UK

First school staffed by forces signs 60

The first UK school with a teaching staff who have all served in the armed forces say 60 children have been signed up.

Next month the Phoenix School in Oldham plans to submit their application to the Department for Education.

Critics say putting ex military in charge of a class with no training makes no more sense than sending teachers to the front-line with no training.

Peter Cross, Chief Executiive of the charity SkillForce, says the ex military bring a different mind-set to the classroom.

The school is the brainchild of former teacher and military instructor Tom Burkard who says it will cater for pupils aged between 11 and 18. It will work to encourage high standards of behaviour, literacy and numeracy.

In an interview with the BBC he said: "Discipline is an absolute first priority. We are going to be using a house system where we are going to be building teamwork through competition.

"We plan to use competition to make sure all children develop the interest it takes to know enough about a subject so the subject becomes interesting in itself."