:dateline:Atam Academy is scheduled to open in September 2015 at primary school level and secondary school pupils will be welcomed a year later.
The school, for pupils aged 4-18, is expected to reach full capacity – 1,260 students – in 2020.
It will be the third Sikh-designated free school in the capital – the first of its kind in east London.
Mankamal Singh, chairman of the Atam Academy board of governors, said: �It has been a lot of emotion, hard work and commitment in preparing the application.
�We have got the thumbs up from the Department for Education so it is full steam ahead now.�
Sikh pupils at the school will make up 50 per cent of the intake with non-faith groups making up the other half. Twenty per cent of people who registered an interest in the school by signing a petition are non-Sikh, according to Mr Singh.
Governors are yet to secure a site for the school to be built on.
�We are not ready to disclose which sites we have been looking at,� said Mr Singh.
�The south of Ilford is where the main Sikh community is in the borough but right now we cannot say the school is definitely going to be there.�
He added Atam Academy were looking at both privately owned sites and those owned by Redbridge Council.
Lee Scott MP for Ilford North applauded DfE�s decision.
�I am a believer in faith schools,� said Mr Scott, who sent a letter to DfE supporting Atam Academy�s application. �There is a need for school places in the borough. I think free schools have an important role to play – their ethos is first class.�
Redbridge is among the worst-affected boroughs in London, in terms of the demand for school places. Cllr Jas Athwal, leader of Redbridge Council, said: �I think any school of any sort will help with the demand.
�The borough will be very grateful we can carry on educating our people.�
