A NEW school which developers hope to build in the Tadpole Garden Village will be named after a founder of the arts and craft movement.

Plans for the William Morris School were submitted by Quattro Design Architects last month.

When reporting on this application, the Adver assumed that this newspaper's Swindonian founder was the new school's namesake, but we were sadly mistaken.

The school is in fact named after an arts and craftsman called William Morris, born in Middlesex during the 20th century.

The link with the Adver is, unfortunately for us, just a coincidence.

Coun Fionnula Foley named the school when she was Cabinet Member for Children Services and School Attainment.

She said: "It was the first time that I'd ever named a school.

"The council commissioned a primary school in the area.

"We kept calling it Tadpole Two, so we thought that it had to have a proper name before we decided who would run it.

"After having a brainstorming session and consulting with Cabinet, we agreed to name it after the road it would be on.

"The streets in the Tadpole Garden Village have a theme and many are named after artists, including William Morris Way.

"It makes life a bit easier for parents to find the school, it's quite old-fashioned, but it's simple.

"William Morris also rented out Kelmscott Manor, just over the border in Oxfordshire, so while it's not Swindon heritage per se it's still historic.

"He also made beautiful drawings and poetry and I liked his work.

"I thought it would be fantastic to link someone so important to arts and crafts to this school.

"When auditioning academies to run the school, we asked them how they'd incorporate his work into the building.

"Blue Kite Academy, who look after Ferndale Primary School and Abbey Meads School, won the bid.

It is understood that a feature is being discussed for the front of the school with links to William Morris’s designs from the period.

The plans also include space for playgrounds, playing fields, car parking and service areas.

It's expected to cover the majority of the extra pupil places that will be needed from the completion of the Tadpole Garden Village development.

There are still 1,300 houses yet to be built in this part of North Swindon.

The school would be built on 3,000sq.m across three hectares of land adjacent to the Crest Nicholson housing development.