THE opening of Bournemouth and Poole’s first free school has been postponed until 2013, after organisers failed to find a suitable site.

Parkfield School was meant to open this September, offering primary and secondary education to 216 children in Homelife House and adjacent buildings at the Lansdowne.

But the Department of Education, which was handling the purchase of the building and planning application, was gazumped on the site – leaving governors just weeks to find a new location.

They have now written to prospective pupils’ parents to tell them they have been unable to do this and have reluctantly decided to defer Parkfield’s opening until September 2013.

The letter from chair of governors Tony Spotswood said: “We appreciate this will be as disappointing for you as it is for ourselves and we appreciate the difficulties that accompany this decision.

“The need to defer the opening of the school has been forced upon us all and while we cannot avoid the situation we find ourselves in, we can continue to do our utmost to keep the vision for the school alive and ensure it opens next year.”

He reassured parents that every child who had been promised a provisional place at Parkfield will be guaranteed a place in 2013.

He said the Department for Education had provided written assurance that every child hoping to go to Parkfield would be provided with a place by the local education authority.

The teachers who had been offered jobs will have these offers held over until 2013. Principal Terry Conaghan’s contract expires later this year but governors are hoping they will have signed the funding agreement by then and will be able to secure his position.

Mr Spotswood added: “Having to defer the opening of the school to September next year is a huge disappointment to us all but we are confident that with our continued efforts and your continued support we will manage to secure a suitable site to house the school when it opens next year.

“At the end of the day it is what happens inside a school that counts and while the building has delayed delivering the school, it has not and will not prevent us from delivering the vision and ethos of Parkfield School.”