An academy group has partnered with Eton College to provide students with access to the highly-renowned college.

Blackburn-based Star Academies - which runs schools in Blackburn and Stacksteads - has announced plans with Eton College to open three academic sixth form free schools in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham.

The new post-16 colleges, which will be free to attend, are being designed to help give young people who have done well in their GCSEs the opportunity to achieve the A-levels they need to go to Oxbridge and other elite universities.

Star Academies chief executive Sir Mufti Hamid Patel said: “This marks an exciting milestone in our partnership. By harnessing our combined wealth of educational and operational expertise, we are confident our colleges will produce extraordinary, transformative outcomes, not only for their students but for the wider communities too.

“Our mission has always been to change lives for the better and to open doors for young people to access the best opportunities, but these colleges will have a wider, positive impact throughout the communities of Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham.

“They will become anchor institutions that make a significant contribution by playing a leading role in addressing skills shortages and helping to drive up standards in education.”

The partners intend to bid in the next wave of the Department for Education’s Free School Programme, which is expected to get under way in the next few months, with a view to the colleges welcoming their first students in 2025. If these bids are successful, the new colleges will be part of Star Academies.

Star Academies runs Tauheedul Islam Boys High School, Tauheedul Islam Girls High School and the Olive School, all in Blackburn and The Valley Leadership Academy in Stacksteads.

These co-educational colleges would include access to some of Eton’s best teachers, its clubs and its speaker events. Eton will also help students prepare for university applications and interviews and every year students will be invited to take part in a summer residential at Eton itself.

The colleges’ small size will allow them to target a specific academic education and will ensure they do not disrupt the existing pattern of local post-16 education.

Bosses at Eton say they are committed to making an ongoing financial commitment to all three colleges in perpetuity, to ensure the development and provision of a deep and extensive curriculum offer guaranteed to be provided in the long term.

Political leaders Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham councils and local authorities are hugely enthusiastic in their support for these bids, recognising the contribution the new colleges could make to the young people in the area.

These towns were selected following a major research and consultation exercise that identified where there was most need for a college that could stretch high achieving young people in their sixth form years.

Headmaster of Eton, Simon Henderson, said: “We are delighted to be bidding to open these colleges in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham.

“Our partnership with Star Academies is intended to ensure that the success of the project is greater than the sum of its parts.

"While our contexts may be different, our values are aligned and together we are committed, for the long-term, to sharing our educational vision and delivering outstanding educational opportunities to young people in these areas.”