BOLTON’S first government flagship free school will open its doors in September.

The Olive Tree Primary School — a mixed sex Muslim school which will take non-Muslim children — will open in an existing empty building in Halliwell.

Free schools are part of a government plan to establish schools which are free from local authority control.

Although Bolton Council is opposed in principal to free schools, it says it wants to “work with” The Olive Tree for the benefit of the children.

And the new principal, Farhat Choudry, says she wants to become part of the Bolton “school family”.

She added: “We are delighted to be Bolton’s first free school and are ready to embrace what will be an exciting journey.

“We look forward to developing positive links and relationships with the local schools and becoming part of the family of educational establishments.”

The school is connected to the Daubhill Muslim Society and will be sited in St Helens Road, at its junction with Adelaide Street.

The Olive Tree will cater for four to 11-year-olds. It will take in 60 children in September and will eventually have 420 children.

A maximum of 50 per cent of the available places will be allocated to Muslim children.

The Daubhill Muslim Society provides prayer facilities and Islamic education for Muslim children Mrs Choudry said: “The Olive Tree Primary School will be a valuable asset to the diverse and multi-faith community of Bolton.

“Not only will we be offering school places to support the demand in Bolton, we will also support a choice of offers for parents and be creating employment opportunities over the next few years.”

Bolton Council leader, Cllr Cliff Morris, said the local authority would work with the school to ensure children “have the best start in life”.

He added: “I do not encourage free schools because we want schools to be part of the Bolton family.

“But once the government has planted them, we should work with them because it is about the children.

“Olive Tree has shown it wants to work with us, so we will work with it and take it forward from there and encourage it to part of the Bolton family of schools.”

Bolton Council is required to manage admission applications for the town’s first free school.

A council spokesman said: “Since we became aware of the application for the free school, we have taken a pragmatic approach and have worked with the proposers to ensure that they become part of Bolton’s family of schools.

“We have also encouraged the school to use the council’s policies and processes as a basis for the development of their own.

The council has also let The Olive Tree have office space within the former Bolmoor industrial building at the corner of Adelaide Street and St Helens Road for the use of the school on a short term lease while it “gets off the ground”.