Singer Charlotte Church, 33, wants to turn her own home into a non-fee paying private school for 20 children where she will be the music teacher
- Charlotte Church has submitted plans for a 20-pupil classroom at her home
- The property in Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, will become a non-fee-paying private school for children aged between nine and 12
- The pop star home-schools her own children and is now interested in education
- But neighbours have objected to the potential noise and traffic from the school
former teen pop star Charlotte Church is planning to set up a school at her home
Singer Charlotte Church is turning her home into a private high school – and she will be the music teacher for the 20 pupils.
The former child star, 33, has lodged plans to transform a granny annexe into a classroom for 20 pupils after home-schooling her own two children.
Pop star Charlotte has always home schooled her children Ruby, 11, and Dexter, 10, but now wants to ‘liberate’ other children.
The school in Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, will be non-fee-paying and will educate children aged between nine and 12.
But Charlotte faces a potential planning row as neighbours raised fears over noise and traffic.
Charlotte said: ‘Since I’ve had kids I have become much more interested in education and child development.
‘We started looking at schools and different mainstream options available to us.
‘It started to become apparent that mainstream is struggling with underfunding and overcrowding – teachers are incredibly tested.’
The idea is part of Charlotte’s The Awen Project – which she hopes will grow into a charity setting up other independent schools.
Plans have been submitted to convert a ‘granny annexe’ in Charlotte Church’s home in the Vale of Glamorgan into a 20-pupil schoolroom where she will teach singing
Welsh is not currently planned to be taught as a subject – but the pupils would learn the language in a ‘Welsh kitchen’ (plans above)
The first year of the school we be in a temporary two story annex of Charlotte’s home before a permanent site is found.
Pupils would be given a say over the rules, how they want lessons to be delivered, what food they eat and and how they travel to school.
And Charlotte also plans to be involved in teaching music to the pupils.
She said she has been on a ‘massive research mission’ for 18 months visiting schools – including Sands in Devon and private school Eton.
She said: ‘We’re trying to create something really based on all the evidence – everything we know about how humans learn best, at what stage do children’s brains develop to take in different types of information.
‘We see a lot of people feeling completely disengaged or don’t feel that they have a voice, or that their voice matters.’
Charlotte will send her two children to the school which would have pupils from ‘all walks of life’.
Pupils would study for qualifications such as GCSEs and BTECs but Charlotte says the school would ‘still have lots of creative freedom’.
Welsh is not currently planned to be taught as a subject – but the pupils would learn the language in a ‘Welsh kitchen.
Neighbours are concerned about the noise from pupils and minibuses on the quiet street
Charlotte Church performs on stage at a Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon performance at Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend in August 2017
She said: ‘I totally believe in the transformation of the whole education system and I think it’s possible. I want to play an active part in making that change.’
Charlotte says the new school has not been registered yet but schools regulator Estyn has been positive.
Vale of Glamorgan Council set to make a decision on the plans this month.
Neighbours have complained to the council about the running of a minibus to and from the school.
Dinas Powys Community Council also objected claiming the new school would be ‘detrimental to the character of the neighbourhood’.
Charlotte says she wants to discuss the plans with the community.
She said ‘It’s going to be 20 children on three-and-a-half acres of garden – it’s not going to be an issue.
‘We want to work with the community if there are any problems, which I very much doubt there will be.’
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