A free school is a new ‘all-ability’ school that is funded by the government but is not run by the local authority. They are brand new academies, so they will have new teaching staff, have to recruit pupils and find somewhere to base their school.
Free schools have more control over how they do things. For example, they can set their own pay and conditions for staff and can have different length of school terms and the school day.
Whilst they are expected to offer a broad and balanced curriculum (and are assessed on that by Ofsted) they do not have to follow the national curriculum.
They are inspected by Ofsted, and follow the same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions as other state schools and students sit the same exams.
The Government are currently trying to change the model of free schools and academies and reduce the freedom they have to do things through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The New Schools Network is campaigning to amend this Bill so that free schools and academies can retain their freedoms to determine the best way to deliver for their pupils – get involved in this campaign here.
The ability to set a free school in England was introduced in the Academies Act 2010 and the first wave of free schools saw 24 open in Autumn 2011.
There are now 740 free schools open in England right now – which include mainstream, special schools, alternative provision and specialist 16-19 schools – with 176 more free school projects in the pipeline.
In October 2024 the Government announced that it would be reviewing 44 free schools in the mainstream pipeline.
The list of these 44 projects is not public and there has been no update on the review since it was launched.
Free Schools should be an active part of the Government’s Opportunity mission and drive to raise standards. They deliver high standards for their students, inject innovation into the system have brought a strong focus to delivering for the most disadvantaged pupils.
