A SCHOOL based on a farm which teaches children aged from two to 18 could become Oxfordshire’s first ‘free school’.

Oxford Montessori Schools has applied to the Department for Education to convert its Forest Farm campus, at Elsfield, into a state-funded school from September.

If successful, it could offer a radically different education for children from across Oxford, without the need to pay fees.

Currently a fee-paying school, it is set on a 12-acre farm just east of Oxford. Children are taught in classes of 15 pupils or less and are left to determine their own pace of learning.

The organisation, a private partnership which also runs nurseries in Iffley and Wolvercote, aims to become the nation’s first self-sufficient school by 2020, growing its own food and fuel, and may specialise in foreign languages.

Under Government plans, parents, teachers and charities can apply to set up their own ‘free schools’, which would be funded by the taxpayer but operate outside council control.

Joint principal Daniel Ardizzone said converting to a free school would allow more children to benefit from its unique education.

He said the proposal had received near-unanimous backing from about 130 families.

Currently it costs up to £2,578 per pupil per term to attend the school.

If successful, the school could educate 45 primary school children, 24 secondary pupils and 16 sixth-formers.

Currently, 60 children are taught there, but many older pupils are home educated and attend part-time.

Mr Ardizzone added: “We have a successful model here, partly based on keeping the school to a size where every member of staff knows every child’s name.

“But we have long wanted to widen the social base of children who come here.

“That’s one of the key reasons for applying to become a free school.”

He added: “The majority of the families who come here aren’t attracted by an independent education, but do so because they’re actively engaged with the methods we use. Many make quite considerable financial sacrifices to do so.

“To be able to turn round and say in six months you will no longer have to pay fees is a fabulous thing.”

The site, a former fruit farm now owned by the school, includes farm buildings converted into classrooms, a barn which is now a sports hall, and a 2,000-tree coppice.

Secondary-age pupils sit International GCSEs and follow the National Curriculum.

Mr Ardizzone said 92 per cent of exams taken last year were graded A* to D, and watchdog Ofsted rates the school as “good”.

Other parents hope to set up a free school at Cogges Farm, Witney, and a developer wants to build one on the former US Air Force base at Upper Heyford, near Bicester.