Parents and students who are campaigning to open a new international primary school say it will be a “creative" way of showing children the world around them.

The Ara School could be opened in the Coppetts Wood area of Barnet in September 2016, taking children aged four and up.

The campaign is being backed by Jordan and Csilla Brimer, who run an international education network, mother Fahima Kahn and Sophie Taylor, 19, who studied at an international high school.

Ms Khan, of West Way, Edgware said: “We believe in this school. We envisage that children that come out of the school will be well-versed on the world’s problems and know what’s going on around them in the world.

“It will open up a whole new world to them and we are very excited about the idea of this school.”

The school will offer the international baccalaureate, which is taught in schools in other parts of Europe.

The international baccalaureate does focus on one written examination at the end of the year and instead, pupils are assessed in different ways.

Ms Khan, who has four children, added: “If they want to study elsewhere in the world they can. The curriculum won’t focus solely on one country so when they get to secondary school, they’ll have a good mindset.

“The best thing about this is that it’s a creative way of teaching. It gives better opportunity for that to show progress.”

The school will be state-funded and an application is due to be submitted to the Department for Education under the free school project.

The driving force behind the campaign is Yukesha Maran, the director of studies at the IB World School.

Ms Brimer, who has a five-month-old daughter, said: “International Baccalaureate teachers are more passionate about the curriculum and want to push for that to be implemented.

“The children will become independent thinkers.”

There is a demand for school places, and last year Barnet had to plug a ‘black hole’ of funding for school places.

Sophie Taylor, who studied at the Dwight School in Friern Barnet, said: “Going to an international school suited me well because I got to do a range of subjects.

“I feel I would have missed out otherwise.”

A meeting to discuss the new school will be held at 6pm on January 21 in East Finchley Library, High Road.

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