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Updated 20 July 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-application-guide/how-to-apply-to-set-up-a-mainstream-free-school
This guidance is for applicants seeking to open a new mainstream free school in wave 15 of the free schools programme. It explains the:
If you have submitted an expression of interest, this guidance will support you to develop a full proposal that meets our criteria.
We want all children, whatever their background or location, to benefit from attending a school that provides a high-quality and inclusive education within the resilient structure of a strong trust. Free schools have an important role to play in levelling up opportunity and responding where there is a need for more school places. The schools white paper confirmed our intention to:
In this wave, we are looking to approve up to 15 new mainstream free schools. A targeted number of these will be academically focused 16 to 19 free schools.
We will only send you a free school application form if you have completed an expression of interest form.
You have until 5pm on 16 September 2022 to register your interest and until 5pm on 30 November 2022 to submit your final application.
We are looking to open free schools in the areas where they are likely to have the biggest impact on improving outcomes and deliver the best value for money. This means we are looking for applications in areas where there is clear evidence of the need for both:
If your application meets our criteria for evidence of need, we will then consider the rest of your application. We are looking for applications that:
We have a specific focus on improving outcomes for pupils identified as disadvantaged through their eligibility for pupil premium, though you should consider how your proposal can improve outcomes for other groups of young people experiencing educational disadvantage.
Through this mainstream free schools wave you can apply to open:
We are accepting applications for free schools with:
The UTC model is licensed by the Baker Dearing Trust. UTCs sign up to a charter setting out the expectations for their unique character and educational contribution.
All schools opened through this wave will be funded at the standard rates for mainstream and 16 to 19 free schools. You will need to demonstrate that your school will be viable based on this funding. You can find more information on how financial viability will be assessed in sections B and F.
We are not seeking applications from existing independent schools looking to become a state-funded school through this application wave. Applications must demonstrate a clear demographic need for a high proportion of the additional places they will create and represent good value for money. Places that are currently being provided by an independent school will not be counted as evidence of demographic need or considered to be additional. For that reason, it is unlikely that an application from an existing independent school to become a free school will be successful.
There are other routes to open a new school outside of this mainstream free schools wave. In this application wave, you cannot apply to open:
We recommend that you contact Create: Schools to discuss your proposal. Create Schools can provide free advice, guidance and resources to groups applying to open free schools.
We welcome applications from new providers and will continue to consider bids for high-quality free schools to open initially as standalone trusts, to support innovation. If your school opens as a single academy trust, we will expect the trust to grow and become a multi-academy trust over time, so you can share your capacity across the system and unlock the additional benefits of operating at an increased scale. The schools white paper provides more information on our expectations for trust growth.
If you are not currently established as an academy trust, then you must establish one before submitting your application, using the model articles of association relevant to the type of school you are proposing.
More information about setting up an academy trust is available in annex A. Additional guidance is available from Create: Schools.
You must use the application form provided, which will be sent once you complete the mandatory online expression of interest form.
You must make it clear if you have sourced any material from another school or education provider and show how this is relevant to your proposed school. We may reject your application if you fail to do so.
We are looking to open schools that will meet the needs of the communities in which they are located and will be popular with parents and pupils. Your application will be stronger if you show awareness of the needs of the local community and engage them when developing your proposals. This includes parents of prospective pupils, where possible, and existing schools or 16 to 19 providers.
Checks are conducted on all applicants. This means we will use the personal information you provide to check your suitability to set up a free school. More information about how we will use your personal information is available in annex D.
If you are applying for a similar school after being unsuccessful in a previous wave, you should explain how you have changed your proposals in response to the written feedback you received. If you do not address this feedback, it is likely that your application will be rejected, and you may not get full feedback on your current application.
Your completed application should be submitted by 5pm on 30 November 2022.
Your application will include:
Submit your application by email to FS.applications@education.gov.uk. Title your email as follows: Free School Application – [insert free school name]. Your email should not exceed 9 megabytes. Anything larger will not be delivered. If the application is larger than 9 megabytes, split the documents and send multiple emails clearly indicating that the emails are connected, for example, ‘email 1 of 3’.
The application form and spreadsheet for sections A and G must be saved in an open document format – PDFs will be rejected. Annexes can be submitted as PDFs.
If you are applying for more than one school, you must submit a separate application form and spreadsheet for each school.
If your application is successful, we may publish it on GOV.UK – redacting any personal and commercially sensitive information. See annex D for more information.
We will assess your application against the assessment criteria.
If your application is incomplete or judged to be weak in any criteria it may not be assessed in full.
We may approach other organisations, including local authorities and existing providers, to determine if:
If your application meets the criteria and is assessed as one of the strongest, we will invite your group to interview. Interviews will be tailored to the:
We will only change the date of your interview in exceptional circumstances.
Decisions on applications are taken by the Secretary of State. The decisions are final and there is no appeals process. Scoring of applications will not be shared with applicants or other external groups. You will receive feedback if your application is assessed in full but not successful.
Approval of your application does not mean approval of every detail. We may make approval conditional on requirements relating to areas such as your:
If your application is successful, you will be invited to move to the pre-opening phase. In this phase, you will need to turn your application into a school ready for opening.
In our experience, projects typically take around 3 years to open. Attempting to open in a shorter timescale is extremely challenging. We will usually only agree a provisional opening date once a site has been confirmed and we have assessed how long it will take to deliver.
Trusts that move into the pre-opening phase will receive a project development grant to cover essential non-capital costs up to the point at which the school opens. This grant must not be used retrospectively to cover any costs incurred in preparing the free school application and getting the school approved into pre-opening. The amount for the grant will vary depending on the type of school the trust is opening and the number of schools the trust is opening in an academic year.
Your school may be delayed or even cancelled in pre-opening for a range of reasons, including:
You can find out more about the pre-opening phase and project development grant in the free school pre-opening guide.
The final decision to open any free school requires the Secretary of State to enter into a legal contract with the academy trust – the funding agreement.
A funding agreement will only be signed if the Secretary of State is satisfied that the school will deliver a good standard of education, with a viable and sustainable number of pupils from its first day of operation.
Applicants must complete all application criteria unless stated in this guidance.
The information that you need to provide may vary depending on your experience and background.
All applicant groups must complete sections A1 and A2 in full. There are no assessment criteria for this section.
In this section, you must provide basic information about your applicant group and your academy trust.
In this section, you must describe the key characteristics of the free school you are proposing. If you are applying for more than one school, you must complete section A2 for each one.
You should include:
Your school’s financial and educational viability is dependent upon admitting enough pupils. We are unlikely to approve schools with fewer pupils than our expectations on school size.
Quality early education leads to better outcomes later in life. The need for quality childcare remains a priority for this government, and schools play an important role in meeting this need. If you are applying for a primary or all-through free school we expect your school to include a nursery, except in exceptional circumstances.
You should set out the fundamental characteristics of your nursery provision in section D. Successful applicants will be supported in the pre-opening period to develop more detailed plans to establish the nursery provision. If you have a strong reason for why nursery provision would be inappropriate for your school, you must make the case in your response to section C.
The SEND review: right support, right place, right time sets out the government’s aim to create a more inclusive education system with a focus on strong mainstream special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision.
SEN units or resourced provision must be set up in response to local authorities’ needs as they commission and fund places for children with education, health and care (EHC) plans. You should speak to the local authority about whether there is a specific need in your proposed area for a SEN unit or resourced provision. If there is a need for a SEN unit or resourced provision in your area, we would look favourably on any application that plans to meet it. If there is a need in your area but you think that this would be inappropriate for your school, you should set this out in your response to section C.
You should consider how this provision will support the vision of your school and align with the local authority’s SEND and high needs strategy, as well as its impact on your curriculum, staffing, and finance model. Successful applicants who have expressed an interest in opening a SEN unit or resourced provision will be supported in the pre-opening period to develop further plans to establish it.
Identifying a suitable location is critical to the success of new free schools. You should consider the need for the places your school would create and the government’s priorities for this wave of the free schools programme when selecting the area for your school.
We are looking to open free schools in areas where they are likely to have the biggest impact on improving outcomes and deliver the best value for money. Your school must be in an area where there is clear evidence of both:
If your application does not meet the criteria for demonstrating evidence of need then we may not assess the rest of your application and it may be rejected.
The way we will assess the need for the additional places your school will create and the information you must provide depends on the age range of your school:
If your school includes both pre-16 and 16 to 19 places, such as a secondary school with a sixth form, you must complete both sections as we will assess the need for each phase separately. If there is not sufficient evidence of a need for the 16 to 19 places in your school we may only approve the pre-16 element of your proposal. We may also defer decisions on the 16 to 19 provision until nearer the time it is needed.
If your school includes pre-16 school places, it must be in an area where there is clear evidence of a demographic need for at least half the places the school will create in the short to medium term. This should be up to September 2025 for primary places and September 2027 for secondary places, in line with the latest estimates of the need for places in the school capacity survey (SCAP 21). Evidence of demand for a particular type of school, such as one with a specific religious character or curriculum offer, will not be regarded as evidence of demographic need by itself.
We recommend you use the maps and data to help you identify areas with a potential need for a new school. These maps and data set out the latest estimates of the need for new primary school places and secondary school places. They also show the location of the priority education investment areas and the wider education investment areas.
We adjust our estimated need for additional school places to include centrally funded free schools that are due to open in September 2022 or in the 2022 to 2023 academic year. You should review the list of pipeline projects to see if there are approved free schools proposed to open in later years that may meet the forecast need in your proposed area.
The information provided through the school capacity survey is an annual snapshot. Once you have identified a potential location for your school you must speak to the local authority before submitting your application to understand the up-to-date need for additional school places in your proposed area. This includes any existing plans to meet the identified need.
When assessing the need for the additional places your school will create, we will consider the latest available data on forecast demographic need, both in the planning area in which your school will be located and in neighbouring planning areas. High levels of surplus places or need for places in neighbouring planning areas could affect the evidence of the need for your school if pupils can reasonably travel between these areas. We will also consider any additional information provided by local authorities.
The forecast need for an additional school in an area may change over time. We may cancel projects during the pre-opening phase if there is no longer a need for the places.
Your application should:
Where an additional need for school places is associated with planned housing developments not already included in SCAP 21 figures, you should include the local authority’s estimates of annual build rates and expected pupil yield by year – how many homes are expected to be built in each year and so how many new pupils are expected to require school places.
Your application will be strengthened if the local authority is able to provide benchmarks for this information, such as other developments under construction or recently completed in the local authority area. We will assess the likelihood of the housing development being completed within the timeframe planned.
You can find more information about calculating pupil numbers from housing developments in the SCAP survey guide for local authorities.
If you are not proposing a nursery, SEN unit, resourced provision or 16 to 19 provision, your response to section B1a should be no more than 1,500 words.
Your application should briefly set out evidence of the need for nursery provision in the local area. This should include any evidence on the type of provision that is needed, including year-round provision, and the take up of places by 2, 3 and 4 year old children.
You should:
If you believe you have exceptional circumstances that would mean that inclusion of nursery places would be inappropriate for your school, you should set this out in your response to section C.
If you are proposing a nursery, your response to section B1a should be no more than 2,500 words.
You should speak to the local authority about whether there is a specific need in your proposed area for a SEN unit or resourced provision and summarise the outcome of these discussions in your response. This should include:
If you are not intending to offer a SEN unit or resourced provision in your school, despite there being a need in the area, you must set out the reasons for this in your response to section C.
If you are proposing a SEN unit or resourced provision, your response to section B1a should be no more than 2,500 words.
We do not publish estimates of the need for 16 to 19 places and will consider a range of factors when assessing the need for additional 16 to 19 places created by your school. You must speak to the local authority about the need for the 16 to 19 places your school will create and to help identify any local providers that would be impacted by your school.
Your application should include:
Partnerships might include being part of a strong multi-academy trust or a formalised partnership with an external organisation involved in the running of the school. They might also include agreed plans to collaborate with existing local providers to share facilities or extend the offer available to students across different providers.
We will assess the nature and sustainability of any partnerships on which your application depends. It is important that your school is financially sustainable over the long term. If you receive financial support from a partnership, we may need to test that your school would remain viable should this support not be available in the future. You should identify the parts of your proposal that are dependent on external funding in the relevant sections of your application and outline appropriate mitigations to ensure the viability of your school and the quality of your offer, should this funding cease. The financial viability of your proposal will be assessed in section F. We may approve your application subject to the provision of further evidence that we request on the nature of any partnership and the impact on your proposal should this partnership end.
We may also approve your post-16 provision subject to further assessment of the local need for additional 16 to 19 places and the contribution that your proposal could make to meeting it.
If you are proposing a standalone 16 to 19 school or 16 to 19 provision attached to a pre-16 school, your response to section B1b should be no more than 3,000 words.
We are looking to open free schools in areas where they are likely to have the biggest impact on raising standards. We will consider applications in all areas of the country, but we will prioritise proposals for free schools that:
The maps and data provide the locations of the priority education investment areas and the wider education investment areas.
When comparing the relative need to improve educational standards between areas we will also look at:
When choosing a location for your school you may find it useful to refer to the following websites to find out more information about the quality of existing local schools:
You do not need to provide additional information in this section to support your choice of catchment area as we will use the data we already hold to assess the need for additional good school places in an area. If you believe there are exceptional circumstances that would strengthen the case for additional good school places in your proposed catchment area, then you can provide additional contextual information. This could include information on the performance of schools in neighbouring local authority areas, where the catchment area for your proposed school will reasonably cover more than one local authority.
Your response to section B2 should be no more than 1,000 words.
In this section, you should set out a compelling and achievable vision for your school that will be attractive to parents and pupils, raise standards and support improvement in the wider school system. Your vision should be evidence-based and consistent with the rest of your application, which should clearly show the plan for implementing this vision.
We are particularly interested in applications where the vision clearly aligns with the aims of the schools white paper. We will focus our school improvement activity in the 55 education investment areas, in particular in the 24 priority education investment areas.
All applicant groups should complete this section in full.
Your application should include:
Your growth strategy should include:
In setting out your vision, your application should include:
You do not need to provide details of your intended enrichment programme at this stage unless it is crucial to achieving your vision. If that is the case, you should mention it in this section and provide more details in section D. Any extra-curricular plans must be affordable within your financial plans.
Your response to section C should be no more than 2,000 words.
In this section, you need to set out the plan to deliver your educational vision. We are looking for an ambitious and deliverable education plan, which is consistent with your vision and pupil intake.
Your education plan must be affordable, sustainable and consistent with your financial plans. Any areas of your education plan that would be supported by third-party funding must be clearly identified in your application and mitigations set out for any reductions in this funding. We will assess the basis of any third-party funding provided in section F to ensure that it is sustainable.
When preparing your education plan you must consider the information set out in annex A and annex B, which cover the requirements on free schools and applicant groups.
Section D of the application form has 2 different parts, which must be completed in full by all applicants.
You must complete table D showing how your school will grow over time to full capacity and attach it separately to the application form.
If you are required to complete the financial template then the pupil numbers included in this table must be consistent.
If you are applying to open more than one school, you must complete a separate table for each school you are proposing.
You must provide the information relevant to each criteria:
You should set out an ambitious, affordable and deliverable curriculum plan, which is consistent with your vision, pupil intake and financial plan.
You should provide an evidence-based rationale for your proposed approach, supported by references to published data and research.
If your school delivers pre-16 education it must provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Plans for 16 to 19 education should offer an appropriate and sustainable range of qualification options, suited to your target cohort and ensure good pathways into education and employment.
All applicant groups should complete the tables referred to in this section. Your application should include:
If you do not currently run an open state-funded school of the same phase as the school that you are proposing, your application should include:
If you already have at least one open state-funded school of the same phase that you are proposing, your application should include:
If you have multiple strong schools of the same phase and type as the new school you are proposing, you can compare the intake of the new school with one of your existing schools or the whole cohort of your trust.
We will assess the quality of your plans based on a combination of your track record and the evidence you provide against the criteria.
Your application should include:
You must ensure the curriculum plan is consistent with the evidence provided in section B on need. Your application should include:
If you are proposing a sixth form as part of a secondary school, we expect it to offer a minimum of 15 A level subjects, either directly or through partnership. If there are strong reasons why this would not be appropriate for your school, you must set these out. Sixth forms are required to deliver religious education to all pupils to age 18. This requirement does not apply to standalone 16 to 19 schools.
We expect free schools with 16 to 19 provision that are planning to offer technical qualifications to offer T Levels where these are available in relevant subjects unless there are strong reasons why this would not be appropriate for your school. If this is the case, you must set out these reasons. You must also set out any anticipated impact of the planned reforms to vocational qualifications on the programme of study that you offer.
Your response to section D1 should be no more than 3,000 words, not including the required tables.
If you are proposing a school with a nursery or SEN unit, your response to section D1 can be up to 3,500 words.
If your school includes 16 to 19 places, either as a standalone school or as a pre-16 school with a sixth form, your response to section D1 can be up to 4,500 words.
Your plans should be evidence-based and ensure ambitious and realistic expectations for the performance, behaviour and attendance of all pupils, underpinned by a proportionate and effective system of assessment.
Your response should set out how you will ensure your new school will meet the:
If you do not currently run an open state-funded school of the same phase as the school that you are proposing, your application should include:
If you currently run an independent school, you must set out any differences in how you will measure pupil performance and set challenging expectations.
If you already have at least one open state-funded school of the same phase that you are proposing, your application should include:
If you compared your proposals with a single school in section D1 use the same school for comparison. If you compared to the whole cohort of your trust then do the same here.
We will assess the quality of your plans based on a combination of your track record and the evidence that you give against the criteria.
Your response to section D2 should be no more than 2,000 words.
You need to demonstrate a strong understanding of teacher recruitment and retention issues and show how you will ensure that you have the appropriate staff to deliver your curriculum effectively. This should include concrete plans to manage and develop the workforce successfully, including ensuring that workloads are sustainable.
You must ensure that your staffing structure:
Your application should include:
You may wish to refer to:
Your application should include:
If you do not currently run an open state-funded school of the same phase that you are proposing, you must demonstrate that at full capacity your staffing structure is sufficient to deliver the curriculum plan, consistent with the information provided in the financial template.
If you already have at least one open state-funded school of the same phase that you are proposing, you must include plans to tailor your staffing structure to respond to the needs of your target cohort.
If you have any existing schools, either state-funded or independent, you must set out if you intend to use any of your existing staff in this school and how this will work in practice.
If you are intending to work with a partner organisation, such as a university, you must set out how and to what extent you intend to use resources from your partner organisation to deliver your education plan.
You must set out whether your early years provision will be led by a qualified teacher. Refer to the statutory framework for the EYFS for staff-to-child ratio options, as there may be implications for the number of funded early years places that can be offered, depending on the staff-to-child ratio applied.
Your response to section D3 should be no more than 2,000 words.
Your application must demonstrate how your school will:
For all applications, you should set out how your proposed school will, in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010:
Schools that are designated as having a religious character have specific freedoms over how they deliver religious education, appoint staff and their admissions. We welcome applications for schools with a religious character where there is a demographic need for the school and demand for the places they will create. More information on schools with a religious designation is available in annex C.
If your application is for a school designated with a religious character you should include:
Free schools with a religious designation have specific requirements in their funding agreement in relation to integration and community cohesion. There are a range of ways in which free schools with a religious designation can evidence their commitment to integration and community cohesion. You may want to consider:
We will consider the potential impact on integration and community cohesion and the intake of neighbouring schools before a new school is approved. We may speak to representatives of relevant faith denominations about the faith elements of your application. We will not approve any free school application where we assess it to be likely that:
Your response to section D4 should be no more than 1,500 words.
If you are proposing a free school with a religious designation, your response to section D4 should be not more than 2,000 words.
In this section, you must demonstrate the capacity and capability to deliver a financially viable school that will provide a high-quality and inclusive education within a strong trust.
You will need to demonstrate that you have the necessary experience and credentials within your group to deliver the school to opening and an effective governance structure. If you already run an open school you will all also need to demonstrate a strong educational track record.
The schools white paper defines trust strength against the following 5 areas:
If you run an existing trust, we will use the information in your application alongside the information we already hold to assess the strength of your trust, taking into account the length of time your trust has been established.
If you will be establishing a new trust, we will assess your capacity and capability to establish a strong trust.
This section is only relevant if you currently run or lead schools. Other applicants will not be scored for this section.
All groups who currently run or lead schools will need to have a strong educational track record to be approved to open a free school. This generally means:
We will assess whether you have a strong educational track record by using the information we hold, along with publicly available data about the schools in your trust. This includes schools that you have recently taken over or opened.
You are not required to provide any information for section E1. However, if there is a specific reason why a school that you run does not meet the definition of having a strong educational track record, you should provide additional information that will help us to understand the reasons for this and the actions in place to improve performance. We will need to be satisfied that you have sufficient capacity to improve your existing schools alongside opening a new free school. If there is underperformance in your open schools we are likely to recommend that you focus on raising standards in the schools you currently run, rather than opening a new free school.
We will take into account the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic when assessing your educational track record. You can provide any specific information on the impact of COVID-19 on the educational performance of your schools.
If you are providing information for section E1, your response should be no more than 500 words.
In this section, we will assess whether you have access to appropriate educational, financial and other expertise to ensure your school will open successfully. Your application will be rated more highly if:
You will be assessed on the quality of your plans to fill the gaps identified, including the relevant experience and track record of any individuals you have identified to fill these gaps.
We will refer to the growth plans for your trust set out in section C, along with the performance of any schools that individuals are associated with to assess whether you have the required capability and capacity to open a successful new free school in your proposed location.
In section E2, you must:
If you are applying to establish a school with a religious designation, you should consider how you can establish your capacity in a way that supports integration within your school, for example, by including directors or trustees who are not of the same faith as the school designation.
If you are proposing a school with a specialism, nursery, SEN unit or resourced provision, you should identify individuals in your applicant group with the relevant experience and expertise to support the development and delivery of these parts of your school.
Your response to section E2 should be no more than 2,000 words not including the CV templates.
When completing this section you may want to refer to the Academy Trust Handbook and the Governance Handbook, which outlines the features of effective governance that you should consider when formulating your governance arrangements.
If you are not currently operating as a MAT, your application should include:
If you are a local authority maintained school or a group of maintained schools you should describe how your governance will work once you have established your academy trust.
If you are a trust who is currently a MAT, we will look at the effectiveness of your existing governance. Your application should include:
We will consider the proposed size and structure of your board of trustees and whether it will facilitate effective decision-making.
Your response to section E3 should be no more than 1,500 words.
You must demonstrate that your school will be financially sustainable. You must have robust and credible plans to attract good pupil numbers that take account of our minimum expected sizes for new free schools. Your trust should implement effective resource planning to ensure every pound is used efficiently to improve children’s education standards and have maximum impact on the pupils and the school. Schools that do this well tend to:
In developing your plans you should:
Your school must not be dependent on borrowing or nursery income to deliver a viable school and break even in any year.
Where third-party funding is provided, you should state clearly what it will fund and the impact on your school and its education model if that funding stopped. We may request additional information about third-party funding if it forms part of your financial plan. You may provide other evidence of third-party funding, such as letters, as annexes if you think this would support your application.
Even if you are an experienced education provider, the financial template can help us assess your understanding of managing a state school’s finances and the financial challenges associated with opening a new school.
We will consider the financial health of your trust or business as part of our overall assessment.
We may ask you to resubmit your financial plans ahead of an interview if we are unclear on any aspect of this section of your application.
We will use the information we already hold about the financial situation of your schools, including pupil recruitment numbers. You do not need to provide additional information unless there is something specific that you believe will help us to understand the financial health of your trust.
You do not need to complete the financial template at this stage. If you are invited to interview, we may ask you to provide further financial information, including the template, particularly if your existing school or the one you are proposing is small.
You must:
We will assess the quality of your financial plan by the extent to which it is reasonable, represents good value for money and is prudent. We will consider:
The proposed sixth form must be financially viable, including a reasonable allocation of the costs of those staff teaching both pre- and post-16. It must not impact negatively on funding available within the school for pre-16 education.
You will need to evidence how your proposed school will be financially viable and support good student choices, based upon the student intake and education model.
You must demonstrate that the school and the nursery will each be financially viable without reliance on cross-subsidy.
Your application should briefly set out:
Information on nursery funding is provided in chapter 6 of the free school pre-opening guide.
You should provide the expected rate of top-up funding that the local authority, or neighbouring local authorities, are expected to provide for the first 5 years of opening.
Include in an annex to your application, evidence of the number of places that local authorities will commission and confirmation that they will pay the necessary top-up fee.
If you have not previously opened a free school, or have not previously opened a free school of the same phase and type before September 2020, you must complete the financial template.
Any additional information in section F must not be more than 1,000 words.
Finding a suitable site is an essential part of opening a free school. We will look favourably on applications where our site assessments show that we are likely to secure a value-for-money site in a timely manner with an acceptable level of risk. This will reduce the risk that your project will be delayed or cancelled during the pre-opening phase if we are unable to secure a viable site for your school.
We have a team with specific property and planning expertise that acquires sites for free schools. They also oversee construction, redevelopment, and necessary works. They will undertake a site assessment and consider the value for money, timescale, and delivery risks in securing a site for your school.
If your application does not include proposals for a site, but your application is strong in all other areas, we may consider conducting a commercial site search on your behalf.
Your application may be strengthened if you can identify potential sites for your school, though we make the final decision on the location of any school.
You should:
You must not:
We will assess the viability of the site using the information requested in annex E. This information will help you search for suitably sized sites and buildings. These sizes are guidelines, not requirements or entitlements.
We will make an overall cost and value for money assessment of your preferred site. You should aim for the lowest possible capital costs and be as flexible as possible in your site requirements.
Where a local authority offers a site on a peppercorn lease basis, we would expect them to meet site abnormal costs as part of formal approval.
The free schools capital property and planning teams provide advice on finding a site, as well as the process and requirements for planning permission and associated approvals. They can also provide you with a model lease on request. Email fs.applications@education.gov.uk for support.
Complete the section G tab in the Excel spreadsheet.
The Secretary of State for Education will only allow suitable persons to establish publicly funded free schools.
Applicants must abide by the 7 principles of public life which set out the standards of behaviour we expect.
We will undertake due diligence checks on proposers as part of the selection process, including social media and internet searches. We may also ask you questions during the interview about the 7 principles of public life. The Secretary of State may reject applications where the previous conduct of individuals associated with the trust does not comply with these 7 principles.
The Secretary of State will reject applications put forward by organisations that advocate violence, extremism, or other illegal activities.
We will also complete credit checks on individuals to ensure the suitability of proposers to set up and run free schools. We will share personal information provided as part of the application process with third parties for the purpose of these checks.
You must complete a suitability and declarations form for each individual member and trustee of the academy trust regardless of whether they have previously submitted this form. If the director of finance, chair, or CEO is not a member or trustee, we also require completed suitability and declarations forms from them.
If you are applying for more than one school, but the individuals involved in establishing the schools are the same, you only need to send the forms once, stating which schools they apply to in your form.
Email scanned copies of your signed suitability and declarations forms with a passport-sized photograph attached to each applicant’s form to due.diligence@education.gov.uk. The email should include the names of your proposed schools and state the application reference number in the email subject title.
If you are successful at the assessment stage, the chair of trustees must apply for an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate via DfE during the pre-opening phase. The Secretary of State will countersign the DBS certificate.
All other members and trustees must obtain an enhanced DBS certificate. The chair of trustees is responsible for ensuring that all members and trustees have an enhanced DBS certificate that was issued within the last 2 years.
Each free school is run by an academy trust formed specifically to establish and run one or more schools. The academy trust is the body that submits the application to open the free school and with which the Secretary of State enters into a funding agreement.
If you are a new proposer and need to establish an academy trust, you must do so before you apply using the model articles of association. Information on how to set up a company is available from Companies House. Additional guidance is available from Create: Schools.
If you currently lead one or more maintained schools, we expect your existing maintained school or schools to convert to academy status. You must form a MAT that will incorporate both the new free school and your existing schools. You do not need to convert to academy status before applying, but we expect your application to set out your plans for how you will do this if your application is successful.
You may appoint a third party, through an open and competitive tender process, to support you in developing your application. However, you must not enter into any contracts with the expectation of public funds.
If any individuals or organisations that are not part of your trust have assisted you in writing your application, you should explain how you will secure further resources to address any gaps in capacity or capability during the pre-opening phase.
All free schools are subject to the public sector equality duty, which forms part of the Equality Act 2010. This duty requires your trustees, both in planning and running your school, to have regard for the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity and develop good relations between communities.
We will look for evidence that you have considered these responsibilities in your application. You should consult the guidance for schools on the Equality Act.
As free schools are legally academies, they have more freedom and control over certain things than maintained schools. There are some requirements and obligations that all free schools must follow once open.
See the pre-opening guidance for more information.
Schools and their staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. School staff are particularly important, as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children to prevent concerns from escalating.
It is vitally important that as an academy trust you fully understand your responsibilities for safeguarding the children in your care. You should read:
When a school opens we would expect it to be meeting the requirements set out in keeping children safe in education.
Free schools must adopt fair admission practices and arrangements that comply with the:
Admissions policies for standalone 16 to 19 schools are not subject to the school admissions code but must be fair, objective and transparent.
You must draft your initial admission policies using the relevant template. Refer to the guidance on free school admissions to check your admissions policy complies with our requirements.
All schools teaching primary or secondary pupils must teach English, maths, science and religious education within a broad and balanced pre-16 curriculum. Primary schools should consider how they will support progression to secondary school, making sure that all pupils have the knowledge and skills that they will need to succeed there.
All schools must teach a curriculum that promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.
All pre-16 schools must teach religious education. If your school also has 16 to 19 places, such as a sixth form, then you must also provide religious education for these students. This requirement does not apply to standalone 16 to 19 schools. If your school is not designated as a school with religious character, the religious education curriculum must reflect that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of other principal religions in the country. Parents have the right to withdraw their children from religious education and schools must comply with their request.
Early years provision, including reception classes, must deliver the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework and programmes of study.
All free schools must meet the spiritual, moral social and cultural standard that is set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, as amended.
See the guidance on promoting fundamental British values as part of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development for more information.
All free schools must remain politically impartial. Schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure the balanced treatment of political issues.
See the guidance on political impartiality in schools for more information.
All state-funded schools, including free schools, are held to account against the same performance measures. You should consider the accountability measures that would apply to your school.
All schools must collect performance data and publish results. Details about what will be published in the performance tables can be found in the statements of intent.
All state-funded schools, including 16 to 19 free schools, are inspected under the common inspection framework: education, skills and early years. Pre-16 free schools are inspected under the Ofsted schools handbook and 16 to 19 free schools are inspected under the further education and skills inspection handbook.
All mainstream schools admit children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), including those with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
All free schools must have regard to the SEND code of practice, including using their best endeavours to make sure that a child with special educational needs (SEN) gets the support they need. This means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN.
All primary, secondary and all-through free schools must employ a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) who is a qualified teacher. If that individual has not held a SENCO role for a total period of more than 12 months prior to 1 September 2009, they must have the national award for SEN co-ordination or be working towards it.
There must be a named person in 16 to 19 free schools with oversight of SEN provision to ensure co-ordination of support, similar to the role of a SENCO.
All mainstream schools must admit a child where the school is named in a child’s EHC plan.
Schools cannot unlawfully discriminate against pupils because of their sex, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation. You will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the implication of this requirement, and how your school will make reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities.
Free schools can offer boarding provision (residential accommodation) for some or all of their pupils. The school admissions code sets out the requirements for boarding provision in primary and secondary free schools.
Free schools offering boarding provision may only charge fees to cover the cost of overnight board and lodging and must also meet the national minimum standards for boarding schools.
Any proposer considering offering boarding provision in a 16 to 19 free school should consult Create: Schools.
If you want particular religious beliefs to be reflected in your curriculum, staffing and admissions policies you must seek a religious designation for your school. This is a legal recognition that your school will have a religious character.
New free schools designated with a religious character are able to:
Free schools with a religious designation that have a nursery can reflect their religious outlook within the life of the nursery, for example, celebrating religious festivals or using activities based on religious texts. These schools are not permitted to apply any faith criteria for admissions to nursery places. The nursery must abide by the same requirements in the funding agreement and regulations that apply to the rest of the school. These requirements include providing a broad and balanced curriculum and actively promoting fundamental British values.
If you want your school to reflect a distinct ethos aligned with a particular religion, you can register that your school has a religious ethos. The ethos could then be reflected within the vision for the school, the values the school represents and the importance placed on particular beliefs.
Schools with a religious ethos do not have the same freedoms as schools with a religious designation, If your school has a religious ethos then it can make adherence to a faith a genuine occupational requirement when hiring senior leaders, such as the principal or head of religious education.
Schools with a religious ethos can also apply for exemption from the requirement to provide broadly Christian collective worship. This may be where the belief of the majority of its pupils or the local community is such that another faith would be more appropriate.
The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 allows for regulations to enable 16 to 19 academies, including free schools, to have a religious designation. You can apply to open a 16 to 19 free school with a religious character although approval of the designation will be subject to the approval of regulations by Parliament, which we expect to be in place by the end of November 2022.
The Department for Education is the data controller for personal information collected on the:
We are responsible for ensuring that this information is processed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation. Any third parties processing personal information on behalf of the Department for Education will be acting as its data processors.
Personal data is collected so that we can consider the application to set up a free school.
The categories of your personal data that we will be using for this project are:
We may also process special category data if declared under section 5 of the suitability and declarations form or when undertaking due diligence checks on applicants. This may include information relating to:
For the purpose of this project, the relevant conditions we are meeting are:
Our processing of personal and special category data is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of our functions as a government department.
We will publish a full list of the applications we receive. This will include the proposed school’s name, local authority, type of school, phase and faith ethos or designation.
If your application to set up a new school is successful, we may also publish the full application. The following information will be redacted from the application and will not be visible to the public:
Any individuals or organisations that you have named in your application that their information will be processed by the Department for Education during the assessment stage.
We sometimes need to make personal data available to other organisations. These might include contracted partners (who we have employed to process your personal data on our behalf) or other organisations (with whom we need to share your personal data for specific purposes).
Where we need to share your personal data with others, we ensure that this data sharing complies with data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project:
We will only keep your personal data for as long as we need it for the purpose of this piece of work, after which point it will be securely destroyed. We estimate that we will keep your personal data for no longer than 10 years.
Under data protection legislation, and in compliance with the relevant data processing conditions, we can lawfully keep personal data processed purely for research and statistical purposes indefinitely.
Under certain circumstances, you have the right to:
You have the right to raise any concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
If you have any questions about how your personal information will be used, contact us and enter ‘free schools’ as the reference. For the Data Protection Officer (DPO), mark it for the attention of the ‘DPO’.
In section G we ask you to set out where the school would be located and whether a site has been identified or made available. We ask for:
Send any surveys, site plans, Ordinance Survey extracts showing contours and existing features, photos, location maps, any other technical work previously carried out on the site or other associated technical information as annexes along with your application to fs.applications@education.gov.uk.
Deduct any site area that is not viable for education use such as excessive gradients, protected features or other natural or built constraints. The areas shown are the minimum to meet the technical standards in Building Bulletin 103 area guidelines for mainstream schools.
If you intend to set up a nursery for 3 to 4 year-olds alongside your school, an additional 6m2 per place is recommended.
If you intend to set up a nursery for 3 to 4 year-olds alongside your school, an additional 2.3m2 per place is recommended.
All-through schools should use the total of the primary and secondary base areas.
Further information on recommended building and site areas and the application of these gross area formulae to different types of schools are given in Building Bulletin 103 area guidelines for mainstream schools.
Where a local authority offers a site on a peppercorn lease basis, we would expect them to meet site abnormal costs. This may include:
Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.
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