• follow the usual admissions criteria;
• be applied to in the same way;
• be fully comprehensive i.e. NOT select on ability;
• be obliged to participate in local Fair Access Protocol arrangement; and
• be subject to the same OFSTED inspections.

How are Free Schools different?

Being outside of local authority control, like other Academies, we would have certain flexibilities and freedoms we could take advantage of, if we felt they would benefit our students:

• freedom from following the National Curriculum where necessary
• greater control of our budget
• freedom to change the length of terms and school days
• the ability to set our own pay and conditions for staff
• freedom from local authority control.

As teachers and parents, we feel these additional freedoms will help us better meet the needs of the children and parents we work with. 

Where does the money come from?

Like all other state schools, our funding would come from central government, and we would receive exactly the same initial level of per-pupil funding as other schools in the area.

Like Academies, we would receive all the money allocated to students – i.e. it would not be “top-sliced” by the local authority. We would be free to decide if we wanted to purchase services from the Local Authority or elsewhere e.g. staff training, specialist subject consultancy or payroll facilities.

Once up-and-running, the capital funding for the leasing, purchasing or maintenance of the school site will (again) be exactly the same as other schools.

The only discernable difference in funding is the initial start-up costs. The Government has announced a £50 million fund to help with schools opening in September 2011. If we are successful in our bid, this would be EXTRA money coming in to schools! 

Won’t a Free School take money from other local schools?

Any capital money to set us up would be EXTRA money coming into the local area. We believe this can only be a good thing, especially given that the Building Schools For The Future programme has been scrapped.

Also, given the level of house building and other developments projected in the next decade, there will be an increase in the number of children needing school places. We would be part of the changes needed to meet this need, and so we are unlikely to “deprive” other schools of students. 

Does it matter that the Liberal Democrats passed a motion against Free Schools during the party conference?

No. The necessary legislation was already in place under the previous government, and the Free School policy has the full backing of the Coalition. It is important to remember that once they are set up, Free Schools will have the same legal status as all other Academies – the only difference is that, instead of being initiated by local authorities, they are started by people within local communities.  

Who is in charge of the school?

When the time comes for the project to be signed off by the Secretary of State, a charitable Trust will be formed to oversee the running of the school.

(Incidentally, the Department for Education carries out substantial background checks on the Trustees before they are given any responsibility for the running of a school)

In summary, once they are set up, Free Schools are identical to Academies.

The big difference is that rather than being initiated by the Local Authority, Free Schools are started by the local community, in the form of a proposal for a new school. This proposal could be the work of parents, teachers or other individuals or groups. Proposals must demonstrate adequate: (i) educational vision; (ii) expertise in terms of people; (iii) local demand for the school, and (iv) potential sites in order to be passed to business case stage. Once a proposal has been accepted to business case stage, and the civil service have carried out the necessary checks on the people behind the proposal, substantial work is done with the group to ascertain whether the school can/should go ahead, before being signed off by the Secretary of State for Education.