Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Free school definition

What does Free school mean? In practice, a free school is a new state‑funded academy in England, established and run by an academy trust and operating independently of the local authority. The term is descriptive rather than statutory: it is not defined in the Academies Act 2010 and is used by the Department for Education and practitioners to denote academies created under the free schools programme. A free school is governed by an academy trust (a company limited by guarantee and exempt charity) and funded directly by the Secretary of State under a funding agreement. It is subject to Ofsted inspection and, save for recognised...

Legal classification of schools in England and Wales: independent, academies and free schools, maintained; funding, governance, ownership, age ranges, admissions and federations

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note explains the different categories of schools

It first gives an overview of the initial tier of categorisation, separating independent schools, academies and free schools, and maintained schools; it then describes the further categorisation of maintained schools by Ownership, pupils’ age ranges and pupil intake. It also sets out the difference between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ federations of maintained schools. Education law treats each category differently. A school’s governance arrangements, its funding, and the processes for opening, closing or altering a school all turn on its category. These classifications underpin governance, funding and structural change in every case.

At the first level, schools fall into three groups:

independent schools (commonly known as private schools)
academies and free schools
maintained schools

Sub-categorisation also classifies schools by their ownership, by their pupils’ age ranges and by other selectivities of pupil intake. Many schools make no reference to these categories in their school name, on their website or when putting up signs at the school gate. The Department for Education (DfE) maintains a searchable online register of schools and colleges in England that provides information on each establishment, including the school type...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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