The Coalition Government announced in May 2010 that groups of teachers, parents, organisations and charities enjoy the right to apply to the Department for Education to set up free schools.  Free schools are Government-funded, state schools, but outside local authority control, and enjoying a degree of independence. They are very similar to academies, sharing the same legal requirements and subject to the same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions. Like academies, free schools will have freedoms to set their own pay and conditions for staff, deviate from the National Curriculum and change the length of their terms and school day. 

TPP Law’s specialist team offers practical, affordable legal support to free school proposers. We have worked with 5 successfully established free schools in the first wave of applicants, including the first ever free school, two faith schools and the first free school to contract-out management functions to an outside provider.

TPP Law will be with you every step of the way during this complex and demanding process providing support on the key legal and commercial steps including:

• Setting up the Trust company and understanding your governance
  obligations
• Negotiating the Funding Agreement
• Securing a site for the school
• Running the statutory consultation process, plus a whole lot more.

Contact Mark Johnson or Peter  Hill
 

Click here to download our free Concise Guide to Free Schools.