AN EDUCATION expert is asking for community backing for his idea of opening a 300-pupil secondary school in south east Oxford.

Ex-teacher Eylan Ezekiel wants to open a new ‘free school’ where lessons are based around skills rather than subjects, and which would not follow the National Curriculum.

Now he wants parents to tell him what they think of the idea, before he decides whether to apply to the Department for Education for permission to open The Oxford New School in the Iffley Road area.

He said his school would mirror the three-year-old RSA Academy in Tipton, West Midlands, where pupils have two three-hour lessons a day, organised around five themes: citizenship, learning, managing information, relating to people and managing situations.

Mr Ezekiel, of Florence Park, said by focusing on skills rather than organising lessons around traditional academic subjects, pupils would leave school better prepared for their careers.

The 39-year-old said: “The main thing that would be different would be the model of curriculum and mode of teaching.

“Other schools in Oxford follow the National Curriculum, we would not.

“It would be based around problem solving and skills properly fit for the workplace and the challenges of modern life.

“All of the best practice and best educational research shows that a skills-based curriculum prepares people better for the workplace and future learning than classical based learning the way we still do it.”

He said he was looking at two potential sites and wanted to consult with residents and Oxford’s headteachers until the end of August before deciding whether to proceed with the plans.

If he attracts support, he would launch a formal consultation, including public meetings, before applying to the Department for Education for permission to open the school by September 2013.

People can offer their views about the school at onschool.org.uk or on facebook.com/onschool