A new secondary free school in Hounslow has had its opening pushed back by a year due to difficulties securing a site.

Bolder Academy was due to open in September next year in the Brentford or Isleworth area.

But Hounslow Council announced on Monday (September 12) that the opening had been deferred by the Department for Education (DfE) until September 2018.

The academy, which was founded by headteachers at existing schools in the borough, had been hoping to open at the Grasshoppers RFC grounds in MacFarlane Road, Osterley , with the rugby club relocating to the nearby Conquest Club site in Syon Lane.

Grasshoppers RFC would be given an alternative ground under the school proposals

However, the council said it had not been possible to secure a permanent site at this stage for the "much-needed" mixed-sex non-faith school, and the council did not want pupils facing two years at a temporary location.

A council spokesperson said that MacFarlane Road remained the preferred site for the school.

'We are looking positively to our September 2018 opening'

The council's education chief, Councillor Tom Bruce, said: "We are aware there will be disappointment at the decision but there has been fantastic support from parents and we will putting all our efforts into ensuring that the school opens on time for current year five pupils.

"With the continuing support of families in Brentford and Isleworth, we are looking positively to our September 2018 opening."

Councillor Tom Bruce said he was 'looking positively' to Bolder Academy's opening in September 2018

Bolder Academy, which was approved by the government in March 2015, is the brainchild of headteachers from across the borough.

It was established by the Hounslow Education Improvement Partnership - a collection of 14 secondary schools, 54 primary schools, five special schools and West Thames College - to meet the need for more secondary school places in the borough.

It is due to welcome 150 year seven students in its first year, expanding each subsequent September as it accepts a new cohort of year sevens, and will eventually become a six-form entry school.

The Green School for Boys - a companion school to The Green School for Girls, in Isleworth - is due to open in September next year.

In July this year, it appointed Simon Carter, currently deputy headteacher at Villiers High School, in Southall , as its first head of school.