PUPILS are preparing to ‘boldly go’ when the country’s first ‘space school’ opens in Oxfordshire next year.

The final frontier will be high on the syllabus for the 14- to 18-year-olds lucky enough to earn a place at the ground-breaking new education centre in Banbury.

Lessons will be structured around space themes, meaning youngsters get the chance to peer through professional telescopes or pose questions to real-world satellite and rocket experts.

Around 150 students will join the Space Studio Banbury when it opens on the town’s Academy site in September 2014.

Dr Fiona Hammans, pictured, executive principal for Banbury Aspirations Academy District, said the school would exploit links with the National Space Centre and National Space Academy, and would have a strong focus on science and maths.

Much of the learning will be topic based, with opportunities to learn presented in a real-life space context.

“We might have an employer who works in the satellite industry coming in and saying ‘we want to know how far interspace radio waves go’.

“They will pose the question and our students will go out and find out the type of radio source, and what the attenuation would be as it goes through the atmosphere.”

Pupils will have opportunities to use telescopes at nearby Hanwell Observatory, along with both resources and staff at the Leicester based Space Centre.

Dr Hammans added: “It’s about working with employers directly and giving youngsters in Banbury a chance to get a job in one of the fastest growing industries in the UK.

“It’s about getting our youngsters into employment, but with a really strong education.”

Aspirations Academy Trust, which also runs primaries Harriers Ground and Dashwood, is hoping to open a second space school at Harwell Oxford for September 2015.

The school day will be significantly different from a conventional secondary, starting at 8am or 8.30am and finishing at 4.30pm to 5pm. By Year 12 pupils will be spending two days a week in paid work.

Pupils will study English, a humanity and a language as well as science and maths, and will take GCSEs and A Levels alongside vocational and professional qualifications.

Employers backing the school include Kraft, Dematic and Rational Aviation.

Dr Hammans added: “There is nothing like this in the UK whatsoever – this will put Banbury on the map.”

Capt Apos Katrantzis, of Rational Aviation, said: “We are over the moon to hear that the launch of our space studio is a go.

“Young people will have an excellent opportunity to acquire the relevant skills and the lifelong passion that characterises everyone involved in the aerospace sector.”