The New Schools Network is a national education charity that was set up in 2009 to improve educational opportunities for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A huge part of this work has been supporting the creation of free schools in England.
Following the introduction of free schools into the education system in 2010 we worked with hundreds of communities, teachers, school trusts, social entrepreneurs and others to open new state schools across England – many of them in areas of significant deprivation and low educational standards.
The New Schools Network acted as an interface between those starting free schools and the government, we were able to help build the capacity for change in communities around the country and help Ministers and officials improve how the policy was delivered.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is centralising a lot of decisions that were formerly made by school leaders.
Whether that is around what uniform they have or what they teach, this is a big shift in power from the headteacher or school leader to the civil servants and politicians in the town hall or London.
If this Bill goes ahead in its current form, good schools across the country will suffer, and that means children will suffer too.
In December 2025 the Government approved 16 mainstream and 15 special school and AP projects and cancelled 28 mainstream projects and 18 special school and AP projects.
They also created uncertainty over the future of 59 special and AP projects which are planning to provide over 6,900 high quality, specialist places in local communities.
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