Other types of schools
Free Schools
Free Schools are all-ability state-funded schools that can be set up by any suitable proposer, where there is evidence of parental demand and a clear business case. A 'suitable proposer' can include the following groups: teachers, charities, academy sponsors, universities, independent schools, community and faith groups, parents or businesses (on a not-for-profit basis).
The first Free Schools are due to open in September 2011.
For more information visit the Department for Education website: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/freeschools
Pupil referral units (PRUs)
These are a type of school established and maintained by local authorities to provide education for children of compulsory school age who may not otherwise receive suitable education. The focus of the units is to get students back into a mainstream school.
Students may include:
- teenage mothers
- students excluded from school
- school phobics.
Grammar schools
A grammar school is a fully selective state-funded school. Due to the Labour Government's commitment to non-selective state-funded schools, there has been a ban on the creation of any new grammar schools since the Labour Government came to power.
There are still over 150 grammar schools in England. Some local authorities in the country keep to the traditional selection system: the Eleven Plus exam is used to identify a subset of children considered suitable for grammar education. When a grammar school has too many qualified applicants, other criteria are used to allocate places, such as siblings, distance or faith.
In other areas, grammar schools operate as highly selective schools in an otherwise comprehensive county, where as few as two percent of 11 year olds attend grammar schools. These schools are often heavily over subscribed; they award places in rank order of performance in entry tests. They also tend to dominate the top positions of performance tables.
City technology colleges (CTCs)
City technology colleges are state-funded, all-ability secondary schools that charge no fees but are independent of local authority control. Instead, they are overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Private investor sponsors pay one fifth of the schools' capital costs; the rest of the cost are met by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
CTCs teach the National Curriculum but specialise in mainly technology-based subjects - such as technology, science and mathematics. They forge close links with businesses and industry (mainly through their sponsors), and their governors are often directors of local or national businesses that support/have supported the colleges.
CTCs were established in the late 1980s and are quite similar to the more recent academies - although academies do not receive as much financial commitment from the sponsor and are bound by the Schools Admissions Code. The Government is encouraging CTCs to convert into academies. There are now only three CTCs left in the country; the other 12 are now academies.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools
Children who have a statement of Special Educational Needs have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than children who are not designated as SEN. They may require a different sort of learning from other children of the same age. The most common types of Special Educational Needs for which special schools are required are:
- severe learning difficulties
- moderate learning difficulties
- behavioural, emotional and social difficulties
- autism spectrum disorders.
Special schools usually take children with particular types of special needs. (Not all SEN children require special schools: some will continue to attend mainstream schools that have provision for children with particular needs, such as special teaching for students with dyslexia.)
There are three types of special school.
- Those maintained by the local authority, which can be either community or foundation schools. These are funded by the local authority and are broadly subject to the same legislative provisions as other schools. Most special schools are maintained schools.
- Non-maintained special schools (NMSS), which are not maintained by the local authority but by a governing body instead. They are non-profit making schools run by charitable trusts. They are funded primarily through student fees charged to the local authorities that place children there. NMSS are treated in broadly the same way as maintained schools.
- Independent special schools, which are approved by the secretary or state as suitable for admission of children with statements of Special Educational Needs. They are subject to the registration procedure for independent schools (as set out in the Education act 1996). They are wholly funded by student fees and can be run on a profit-making basis. Most students are placed by local authorities, but parents can also meet the cost of a place privately.
Maintained boarding schools
The majority of maintained boarding schools are secondary schools, educating children from the ages of 11 (or 13). They take boarders as well as day students, and most are co-educational. They cost less than a typical independent boarding school because tuition is paid for by the Government; parents must pay just the cost of boarding.
All students follow the National Curriculum and take the same examinations as they would in a maintained day school.
Maintained nursery school (MNS)
These are maintained by the local authority, and provide education for children aged 3- 5.
Independent schools
The country's independent schools teach approximately seven percent of the child population.
Independent schools are financed by private sources - usually in the form of school fees and charitable endowments - and are therefore not subject to the conditions of 'maintained status' imposed on most of the schools that are state financed.
For more information on independent schools, the Independent Schools Council website may come in useful.