DfE Free Schools
What are Free Schools?
Read the 'Latest News' on Free Schools.
Free Schools will be set up by a wide range of proposers, including charities, universities, businesses, educational groups, teachers and groups of parents, in response to parental demand, to improve choice and drive up standards for all young people, regardless of their background. Free Schools will provide an inclusive education to young people of all abilities, from all backgrounds, and will be clearly accountable for the outcomes they deliver.
These new schools will have the same legal requirements as academies and enjoy the same freedoms and flexibilities to help them deliver an excellent education and drive up standards in our schools across the country, particularly in disadvantaged areas. These freedoms include
- the ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff
- greater control of their budget
- freedom from following the National Curriculum
- freedom to change the length of terms and school days
- freedom from local authority control.
Like academies, they will be funded on a comparable basis to other state-funded schools and will not be profit making.
Any groups interested in establishing a new Free School may contact the New Schools Network to discuss their ideas before filling out a proposal form.
Recent Headlines...
05/11/10 - The Department has today published updates on the Free School proposals approved to progress to the business case stage.
For more information on any of the following topics, go to the 'Free Schools' page on the DfE website. Here you will find all the information you need about Free Schools:
- Free Schools
- An introduction to Free Schools and brief description of their role, with a downloadable letter from Michael Gove to local authorities setting out the Department's new policy .
- Proposal form
- A brief introduction to the downloadable form that proposers need to fill in to apply to set up a Free School.
- Setting up a Free School
- An outline of the four stages that groups wanting to set up a Free School need to follow
- What are Free Schools
- An outline of what Free Schools are and who can set them up