A new primary free school specialising in science has announced plans to open on the site of a former care home in Heston .

Edison Primary School is due to open next September and wants to do so at the old Heston House care home in Vicarage Farm Road, Heston.

The site has been agreed on with the Education Funding Agency, which finances new schools, and Hounslow Council. Public consultation is now underway.

The school would open in a temporary building at the site next year, under the proposals, while the permanent building is built on the remainder of the land.

The permanent building is scheduled for completion by September 2017, subject to planning permission.

The land used for the temporary building would then accommodate extra care housing for vulnerable adults.

Edison Primary School got the government go-ahead in 2014 . It was initially planned to open this September in either the Cranford or Isleworth areas.

The new school will teach the full national curriculum but will have longer hours so it can dedicate extra time to science.

It will initially have 90 pupils in both reception and year one, and will expand until it reaches its capacity of 630.

Parents can apply now for their children to attend, with the possibility of classes in years two and three if demand is sufficient. The deadline for applications is December 1.

Councillors approved plans in June to close Heston House , despite more than 600 people signing a petition to keep it open.

They argued there was a lack of demand for care homes in the borough and promised to find alternative accommodation for the 31 people living there.

Councillor Tom Bruce, Hounslow Council's cabinet member for education, said: "We have an ever-increasing need for primary school places in our borough, with particular need for extra classes in Heston and Hounslow West.

"As a local authority, we have a requirement to provide every child in the borough with a school place. In order to achieve this we are working cooperatively with free schools and the EFA.

"Our overriding priority as a council is that that Hounslow children get the very best education and start to life."

Free schools are state-funded schools which are independent from local authority control.

* You can learn more about plans for the new school at a public meeting at Lampton School, in Lampton Avenue, Hounslow, next Tuesday (November 10), from 6.30pm. Details are also available at www.edisonprimary.org .