The University of Cambridge has announced that the Department of Education has given it permission to establish a primary school, teaching children as young as four years of age.

The school, part of the £1 billion North West Cambridge development, will cater for 630  children. Opening in September next year, the school will act as a fully-fledged primary school, teacher-training facility and a centre for research into learning styles. 

The University of Cambridge is the second university to take such a step, following the University of Birmingham's announcement last summer that it will be opening a secondary school. These university-affiliated schools have been dubbed "university training schools", and come as part of a range of government measures to increase links between schools and the higer education sector. Many schools have now become academies which are formally supported by universities. 

According to the plans, the University of Cambridge Training School (UCTS) will be a conventional state primary school, but will be overseen by the university's academics, who will appoint the head-teacher and the rest of the staff. Postgraduate students at the university studying towards the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) will be able to use the school as good practice whilst training. 

Professor Peter Gronn, head of the Leadership for Learning (LfL) group of academics at the Faculty of Education, in a statement, expressed delight at the opportunities that the UCTS will offer: "The UCTS will build on the outstanding training already provided by the faculty, thereby enabling it to play a lead national role in the enhancement of teacher quality, student learning and strategies for school improvement.”

However, this comes amid continuing debate about whether schools should be training their own teachers, with universities claiming that the government is wrong to encourage the shift away from higher education-based teacher training.