BICESTER: Southwold Primary School is to become an academy after having its application accepted by the Department for Education.

The school in Holm Way is set to join the White Horse Federation, which will also run Gagle Brook Primary School when it opens in the town in 2017.

As an academy Southwold Primary School will no longer be run by Oxfordshire County Council but will continue to be funded by the taxpayer.

In an academy conversion letter the Department for Education confirmed the school had been successful in its application.