The Government is considering a bid to open Britain's first Muslim state school in Bradford after fee-paying Feversham College lodged a formal bid to transfer to the state sector.

The final, official proposal has been signed, sealed and delivered to Education Secretary David Blunkett within the last few days.

If given the green light, the all-girls Feversham College will move from its site off Leeds Road to the redundant St George's RC School in Undercliffe.

Pupil numbers will rocket threefold from 200 to an expected 580 and 20 more teachers will be taken on, boosting staff numbers to 35.

Mohammad Ibrahim said it was a momentous day for Bradford.

"It is wonderful news for the city of Bradford. It will give parents real choice if they want to send their daughter to a state-funded school."

Feversham College will retain its name and hopes to admit the first pupils on its new site in September 2000.

By becoming voluntary-aided, it will join the likes of Yorkshire Martyrs School in Tong and Shipley CE First School which get 15 per cent of their funding from the Catholic Church and the Church of England respectively.

Feversham College will receive a similar proportion of funding from the Muslim Association of Bradford and, as with other denominational schools, the rest will come from the Council.

Feversham will be the first Muslim school in the state sector if it becomes voluntary aided.

The deputy chairman of Bradford's education committee, Coun Suzanne Rooney, said she was delighted with the application. It would put Bradford on the educational map and prove to the world how the city worked hand in hand with different faiths.

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