State Schools

These are the most common form of educational institutions for children in England and Wales. There used to be five categories: county, controlled, special agreement, aided and grant-maintained. The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 replaced these with three new categories: community, foundation and voluntary (divided into controlled and aided schools).

Schools in all categories are self-managing and do not charge fees. They work in partnership with other schools and their local education authority (LEAs). In Northern Ireland they are called education and library boards, from whom they receive funding.

• Community
  The LEA employs the school’s staff, own the school’s land and buildings and has primary responsibility for deciding the arrangements for admitting pupils.
  
  
• Foundation
  The governing body employ the school’s staff, has primary responsibility for admission arrangements and usually owns land and buildings (though they might be owned by a charitable foundation).
  
  
• Voluntary - aided
  Many are church schools. The governing body employs the staff, decides admission arrangements and contributes towards the capital costs of running the school. The land and buildings are normally owned by a charitable foundation. Most aided schools are linked to either the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church, but some are linked to other faith groups, and there are a few non-denominational schools.
  
  
• Voluntary - controlled
  These are almost always church schools, and the land and buildings are often owned by a charitable foundation. But the LEA employs the school’s staff and has primary responsibility for admission arrangements.

Specialist Schools

Any state secondary school in England can apply to be designated as a specialist school in one of ten areas while meeting full national curriculum requirements, but having a special focus on the chosen specialisms: arts, business and enterprise, engineering, humanities, language, mathematics and computing, music, science, sports and technology. Schools can also combine any two specialisms and fall into any of the above four categories.

Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)

PRUs are maintained by a local education authority with a focus on getting pupils back into a mainstream school. The pupils may include teenage mothers and children excluded from school. These units should have a management committee made up of a range of people from the likes of mainstream schools, social services, probation, school governors and the youth service – for which LEAs have overall responsibility.

Other types of school

There are several types of school not maintained by LEAs.

• Independent schools An independent school is not maintained by the local authority or central government and is usually funded by fee-paying students (who do not have to follow the national curriculum) or, sometimes, charitable trust funds. The governing body is responsible for the day-to-day running of the school. The admissions policy is determined and administered by the head teacher and the governing body.
  
  
• City Technology Colleges (CTCs) CTCs are funded directly by the government and commercial sponsors, and offer a wide range of vocational qualifications as well as A-levels (or equivalent). They teach the national curriculum with a specific focus on science, mathematics and technology.
  
  
• City Academies These are a new type of publicly-funded independent schools located in areas of disadvantage and providing free education for secondary age pupils of all abilities. They are owned and run by sponsors, who provide significant capital funds to the school, with the government providing the balance of capital costs and recurrent funding. City academies offer a broad and balanced curriculum, with specialism in an area such as business, science, technology, foreign languages, arts or sport. They share state-of-the-art-facilities with other schools and the wider community.
  
  
• Non-maintained Special Schools Some schools for pupils with special educational needs are not maintained by the LEA, though in some circumstances, the education authority may pay the fees of a pupil with special needs so that he or she may attend one of these schools.