A NEW secondary school to rival the existing community college could be opened in West Somerset after plans were unveiled to set up a "free school" in Williton.

Danesfield Middle School headteacher Ian Bradbury is spearheading a bid to open a new school for pupils aged between 13 and 16 within the existing middle school site.

But the proposal has sparked a bitter war of words between Mr Bradbury and his Quantock Federation of Schools and opponents to his plans, including Nick Swann, the principal of the West Somerset Community College, and heads and governors of the Exmoor Coast Federation of Schools.

Free schools can be set up by parents, teachers, charities and other groups and are funded directly by the Government.

They are not allowed to be run for profit and are independent of local authority control, giving those in charge an element of flexibility over all aspects of school life, including the curriculum.

Mr Bradbury is adamant a free school in Williton would provide parents with choice, meet a recognised demand and improve GCSE performance.

Mr Swann and heads from the Exmoor Coast Federation accuse him of weakening existing provision and claim a small new secondary school would have a limited curriculum and no specialist teaching.

But it is unlikely their opposition will have much impact as there is no scope for consultation within the Government's fast-track scheme to open free schools across the country.

To set up a free school in Williton, Mr Bradbury must show there is demand and support from parents, set out the new school's aims, curriculum and teaching methods, outline the proposed site and formulate an extensive business plan and admissions policy.

He has asked all parents to vote either for or against the idea of a free school before Monday and, if the results show a demand for a new school, an application will be lodged with the Government before the end of February.

From there, a shortlist will be drawn-up, interviews held in the spring and the approved free schools announced in the summer.

If successful, Danesfield's new free school would be up and running in September 2013.

Mr Bradbury, who is also executive head of Old Cleeve and St Peter's First Schools, said the bottom line was providing parents with choice.

"We believe every parent has the right to choose the school they want for their child.

"We have close to 30 parents who have already volunteered to be part of the steering group if the vote is positive.

"We have consulted all parents, held four consultation meetings, two coffee mornings and sent letters to all parents.

"This could be the first time in 30 years that parents have had a choice.

"It would also give parents a genuine say in their children's education," he said.

Mr Bradbury said there was currently no opportunity for 13-plus children to continue their education in a church school in West Somerset and was firmly of the belief that "choice drives up standards of attainment".

His view is supported by the Government, which is adamant that free schools will combine quality education with flexibility over the curriculum, school holidays and teachers' pay and conditions.

But Mr Swann and Martin McNeill, the community college's chairman of governors, have raised concerns about the quality of education that could be provided in a small secondary school.

In a letter sent to college parents - and handed out by college representatives to Danesfield parents attending the middle school's Christmas fair at the weekend - the pair said children's needs were already well met in the district.

"There is no evidence to suggest that this proposal will improve educational provision in the area," said the letter.

"Indeed, governors feel strongly that this could be highly detrimental to the life chances of the young people in West Somerset."

Marcus Capel, executive head of the Exmoor Coast Federation, which includes Timberscombe, Cutcombe, Dunster, St Dubricius', St Michael's and Minehead First Schools as well as Minehead Middle School, urged parents to vote against Mr Bradbury's proposal.

He said the federation accepted the idea of choice but that had to be between strong and effective schools.

"We do not believe that the current proposal would produce a strong or effective secondary school in Williton because numbers would be too small to provide specialist teaching or breadth in the curriculum," he said.

"The upheaval caused by breaking up our current system will be considerable and our children will suffer,"

The college is particularly fearful it could lose funding if its student numbers drop as a result of pupils attending a new free school instead.

There are also concerns parents who still want to send their children to the college could lose out on free school transport if they live closer to the proposed free school than the community college in Minehead - something denied by Mr Bradbury.

He maintains the college would remain as the main local education authority catchment school for secondary aged pupils in West Somerset, meaning parents would still qualify for free school transport to Minehead.

The community college, however, is warning that free transport "may" be withdrawn if the new school opens.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council was unable to give a definitive answer and said the authority was currently "in discussions" on how the proposal could affect school transport arrangements.

Mr Bradbury also moved to allay fears that only a handful of parents would be voting on the future of the district's education system.

Opponents had been highly critical of original plans to only allow the parents of Danesfield's year seven pupils to vote on the issue.

The community college said it believed only 50 per cent of Danesfield's year seven parents, or approximately just 40 families, would have had to support the venture to allow the application process to go ahead.

But although the Government only requires the applicant to show support from the parents of

"children from the relevant age to fill year gaps on offer when the school opens and in its second year" - effectively year seven youngsters - Mr Bradbury said he was keen to give all current parents a say.

"We are asking all parents for their views, not just year seven, and they have all been given one vote per child.

"We're just looking to see what support there is for this idea and we will respond to parents' wishes.

"I can understand why there are objections to this from other schools, but morally to object to parental choice is wrong," he said.

The school's governors are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the results of the vote and will write to all parents with the findings shortly afterwards.

"We will make sure people know as soon as possible as we want this to be an open and transparent process," Mr Bradbury said.

Parent Graham Kennedy, who has a child in year six at Danesfield, said he was not against the idea of a free school but was concerned parents did not have enough information to make an informed decision.

"The meeting I went to wasn't well attended and I don't think parents have been given enough information.

"This would definitely affect my family and I am concerned that this could have a negative impact on the community college," he said.

Mr Bradbury said he was not trying to compete against the community college or any other school in the area.

"The college has amazing vocational courses and we want to partner with them, we are not wishing to compete," he said.

"Indeed, we hope that we can buy into some of their 14-16 courses if that is appropriate for our children.

"In essence, we are proposing a choice for parents, choice which is not currently available.

"We will have freedom to create our own curriculum completely aligned to the needs of our pupils.

"There will also be greater opportunities for parents to discuss how we should run our new schools and parents to actually plan the structure and the organisation of the new school."