Applicant resources: Mainstream and 16-19

Planning your free school proposal may feel daunting. We have aimed to simplify this process by collating a range of guidance available from the Department for Education (DfE) and other sources. This resource includes a list of documents intended to help groups who are applying to open a primary, secondary or 16-19 mainstream free school.

As part of the free school application process, it is important to have an understanding of how your proposed school will impact on the existing provision in your area. In previous waves, demonstrating basic need for a new school has been a key requirement. This resource outlines a variety of resources that applicants can use to build a basic need case for their chosen area and explains how to interpret the school capacity (SCAP) data tables.

This guidance is for central route mainstream school applicants only. This guidance will help you to identify what you can and cannot do in the application stage to identify potential sites for your free school and will explain what information you will need to provide in section H of the free school application. This guidance will also explain some of the things you should consider when looking for potential sites, and what you can expect if your project is approved to the pre-opening stage.

Section E2 illustrates how the school will measure pupil performance and set challenging targets. This document is intended to help you think about how best to present approaches to assessment, data tracking and monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching.

After submitting a written proposal, free school applicants may be invited to interview as part of the assessment process.    This resource provides some general guidance about what you should expect and what you can do to prepare. It is important to note that  each interview will be tailored to your proposal, and you should be prepared to answer questions on all aspects of your application.

An academy sponsor is an individual or organisation that has been approved by the Department for Education to support an underperforming academy or group of academies. This guidance provides an overview of the process of applying to become an approved academy sponsor.

Section E is the heart of your application. Your education plan in E1 must explain how your school will achieve its vision through a curriculum offer that is balanced, ambitious and deliverable.

If a school is going to be successful, it will need to be able to rely on a strong governance structure and a dedicated team of engaged and skilled people. Here we look in more detail about the role of school governors. We set out what is expected of governors, describe how their roles change as these schools are established and offer advice on who you should seek to appoint to the role.

This guidance explains how to set up a company limited by guarantee (CLG), which you will need to do as part of your application to open a free school. The company limited by guarantee will act as the legal body through which your group will apply to open the free school and eventually sign a funding agreement with the Secretary of State when final approval has been given for your free school to open. This document also discusses some of the important issues your group will need to consider as part of setting up the CLG.