A FREE school which opened in converted church buildings in West Hampstead celebrated another round of top exam results with a seal of approval from Michael Gove.

Gill Tyler, headteacher at St Luke’s, in Kidderpore Avenue, gave the Conservative Education Secretary a tour of the school on Friday morning. It turned out to be his last visit to the borough before being re-shuffled out of his job. 

The school, which is expanding one year group at a time, has been oversubscribed since opening in September 2011. “We believe we have managed to create a school where children are happy, secure and making good progress,” said Ms Tyler. “This has been made possible through the hard work of staff and the governors and their resolute commitment to the school’s core values of excellent practice, faith, hope and love.”

All year 2 children at the school achieved the L2+ mark in reading, writing and maths.

Children explained what they were learning in reading lessons to Mr Gove, before singing Ode To Joy to him. He was then presented with a picture book detailing how the school had grown from a converted church hall. Mr Gove said the project was a perfect example of how free schools were opening to meet local need for places.

“Thanks to the success of the government’s long-term economic plan, we’ve got property prices rising and growth in residential properties being built,” he said. “That means a pressure for school places and we have to be smarter at how we develop existing buildings. 

“What has happened at St Luke’s shows you can take a building that might not have been thought of as a possible site for a school and actually have an incredibly handsome school environment and have children learning in a successful way and have Ofsted rating it as good. The parents are clearly delighted.”