The latest applications bring the number of free schools that have gained initial approval to 20
At least four new applications to open free schools, part of the generation of "independent state schools" led by demand from parents and teachers, will be given initial approval by the education secretary, Michael Gove, tomorrow.
Free schools, which are able to set their own curriculum and control their own admissions, are a key plank of the coalition's education policy. Gove believes they will drive up standards.
But the numbers given the go-ahead so far have been small. The latest applications to be announced by the government include All Saints School in Reading, Cuckoo Hall school in Enfield, north London, Sandbach school in Cheshire, and the Bradford free school group.
The Reading proposal, for a junior school, was prompted by parental concern over a local shortage of school places, which is expected to get worse because of demographic pressures.
It will operate in partnership with the private educational consultancy CfBT, an academy sponsor. The aim is to open next September.
Neil McIntosh, chief executive of CfBT, said: "I am delighted that our application to proceed with a free school in Reading has been successful.
"We are particularly pleased to have forged a partnership with an enthusiastic parents group, the Friends of All Saints, to promote an exciting solution to the very real problem of limited school places for children in west Reading.
"CfBT is committed to developing a family of free schools, and it is splendid that the first such venture to gain approval is in our home town of Reading"
The Bradford proposal is backed by Asian Trade Link, a group that provides careers, training and business start-up advice. It will be called Rainbow School and the group hopes to open it in September 2011.
Just 16 schools were among the first wave to be granted initial approval in September.
Those proposals included the West London Free School, which has the journalist and author Toby Young on its steering committee. The school, which advertised for a headteacher this week, will have compulsory Latin for pupils aged 11 to 14, and a choice of either Latin or classical civilisation at GCSE.
Seven of the first 16 have faith affiliations. There are two Jewish schools in London, a Hindu school in Leicester, a Sikh school in Birmingham and three with a Christian ethos.
Delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference this year voted to campaign against free schools, arguing that they risk "increasing social divisiveness and inequity in a system that is already unfair".