IMPROVING children's mental and physical fitness is at the heart of a new school being established in Thornton Heath.
The Paxton Academy for Sports and Science is one of three free schools in the borough given the go-ahead by the Department for Education (DfE) in May.
Now the backers, who include parents, teachers and business and community leaders, are celebrating the acquisition of the site on which the school, paid for by the DfE, will be built.
This site is a piece of wasteland next to the Lidl supermarket in London Road.
The academy will open for 90 primary pupils next September, operating initially from premises at Streatham/Croydon Rugby Club in nearby Brigstock Road.
The rugby club is also working with the school to provide sports facilities as part of a long-term collaboration.
The new buildings in London Road are expected to be ready for September 2015, and the school will eventually cater for around 700 pupils.
Charlotte Davies, a qualified head teacher and chairman of school's board, said the aim was to create an establishment offering children the best primary education, while being firmly embedded in the community.
She said: "If children get the right start they are set for life. We want all our pupils to be winners."
The academy will set out to use sports and pupils' physical fitness to improve general learning.
It will also have specialist science, language, and music teachers to develop subjects that the board believes are critical in preparing children to move on to high school.
Ms Davies said there was a passion among both the school's supporters and the wider community to be successful.
The school will provide much-needed primary places in an area where many pupils are currently "bussed" out by parents to schools in the south of the borough, where more space is available.
Local pupils at a local school, Ms Davies said, would help build on the existing community spirit.
She added: "The school will be available for community use and we want to show it is not somewhere that closes down at 3.30 in the afternoon."
The need for community involvement was echoed by Pat Reid, chairman of the Croydon Black and Minority Ethnic Forum (BME) and also a member of the Paxton board.
He said that working closely with parents and children would increase understanding of problems and lead to fewer youngsters becoming disaffected as they got older.
