CAMPAIGNERS in west Suffolk have hailed a meeting with Whitehall education chiefs as a milestone in their bid to create a “free school”.

Members of the Stoke by Nayland Academy Trust hope to create a secondary school for 11 to 16-year-olds in the Sudbury area.

The proposed school will sit on the site of Stoke by Nayland Middle School, which is due to close in 2013 as part of Suffolk County Council’s move to a two-tier system in the county.

Sally Connolly, a member of the Stoke by Nayland Academy Trust, was one of five representatives of the group who travelled to London for an interview about their plans with senior educationalists, having been shortlisted by the Department for Education this month.

“We were extremely pleased,” she said. “We have been campaigning for this school for two years. The interview is part of the process, which is extremely rigorous, but being shortlisted is a major milestone for the project.

“We hope it shows the school has got a very good case, otherwise we wouldn’t have been called for an interview.”

The academy hopes to open the high school on the site in September 2013, taking in years seven, eight and nine, with around 120 pupils in each year group.

Critics, such as Lord Philips of Sudbury, have claimed the free school would be elitist and potentially damaging to funding of nearby state schools such as Great Cornard Upper School, which could see pupil numbers decrease.

But the group said the move would increase choice of education and claimed hundreds of parents have indicated they would like their children to attend the new school.

“We have had great support from all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds,” Mrs Connolly said. “We want there to be a smooth transition from one school to another.

“This will give parents a choice they don’t currently have.”

If approved, the school would be able to set its own pay and conditions for staff and would have freedom from the national curriculum.

The Department for Education is expected to announce the successful free schools at the end of September.