The new school - which has been dubbed Fulham College as a working title - will be controlled by a single governing body from September 2009. The school is expected to have a single head teacher by September 2010.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council is already leading the way in driving up standards of education through its innovative £245 million ‘Schools of Choice' programme. This follows a special Commission which was set up two years ago to re-think secondary education in Fulham and was chaired by leading educationalist Baroness Perry. Now the idea is being given Government backing and could become commonplace across the country.
Mr Balls used the visit to say chains of schools could have the same identity, share administrative staff and be run by one overall "executive head teacher".
Eventually Fulham College will provide ten classes per academic year enabling it to admit 300 pupils at the age of 11. There will be a total of 1,500 places for 11 to 16 year-olds.
"We want to see chains of schools run by a single overall leadership, probably with a shared brand, with some shared management and governance with a shared ethos and identity," Mr Balls said.
Mr Balls wants councils to follow Hammersmith & Fulham's lead and promote the development of chains, which will be centrally accredited by the Department for Children from January 2010.
H&F Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, said: "Although both of our schools were performing relatively well, the council believes that to truly excel changes were needed to encourage more local parents to choose local schools.
"We were seen as being bold and ambitious when we announced the proposals to bring these schools together, but it now appears this approach is getting national endorsement. If this encourages parents to put Fulham College at the top of their preference list, that is very good news."
The plans for Fulham College form part of the council's vision to improve every secondary school in the borough. It follows a major consultation into the future of local state education held last year. Parents told the council that they wanted more chance to get their children into their top-choice schools and they want sixth forms in all borough schools.
Fulham College will see the existing schools rebuilt or re-modelled with state-of-the-art facilities tailored to the needs of its pupils.
As part of the multi-million pound redevelopment, Fulham Cross will gain a brand new state-of-the-art modern foreign languages centre. The school is already a specialist language college and the new centre will enable it to build on its expertise and provide some of the best language facilities in London. Building work on the new facilities will start in the summer holidays.
At Henry Compton School plans are well advanced for a state-of-the-art performing arts building. This new facility will enable the school to offer a wide range of expressive arts related courses, not only for performers but also covering topics such as stage lighting and sound engineering.
The building will consist of a large performance hall and will be able to seat approximately 150 people. There will also be two spacious classrooms, dressing rooms and a green room. The performance hall will benefit from professional quality stage lighting and sound systems whilst the teaching spaces will be fully equipped to enable costume and set design/construction.
