Changes to procedures for school re-organisation

School gate iStock 000003257894XSmall 146x219The Department for Education has recently published slimmed down guidance on changes to maintained schools. Catherine Newman considers the reforms.

Whilst the number of schools converting to academy status under the Academies Act 2010 continues to increase, there remain local authorities and governing bodies that wish to change existing maintained schools, rather than opting for conversion.

A change could take the form of closure or expansion to meet fluctuating needs. Alternatively there may be a change to status, from community to foundation, to facilitate a federation between a stronger and weaker partner as a solution to assisting a school which requires improvement following an OfSTED inspection.

In January 2014 new regulations came into force, the School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013, and accompanying guidance was issued by the Department for Education (DfE). The latter replaces nine previous guidance documents (see the box below).

The new regime is less onerous than the old one. The guidance confirms that the new regulations further the Government’s aim of “increasing school autonomy and reducing bureaucracy” and giving more control directly to governing bodies, even those of community schools, to respond directly to the “needs of parents and communities”.

The Governing Body of any maintained school may now make the following changes to their school without following a formal statutory process:

  • expansion by enlargement of premises;
  • alteration of upper or lower age limit by up to two years, except for adding or removing a sixth form; and
  • adding boarding provision (in compliance with relevant legislation).

The third category is likely to be utilised less, but the first and second may be attractive to a number of schools. Before any governing body rushes to take advantage of these new found freedoms, it should note that the guidance requires that before making any changes governing bodies should ensure that they have:

  • secured any necessary capital funding;
  • identified suitable accommodations and sites;
  • secured planning permission and/or agreement on the transfer of land where necessary;
  • the consent of the site trustees or other landowner where the land is not owned by the governing body; and
  • the admissions authority is content for the published admissions number (PAN) to be changed where this forms part of expansion plans in accordance with the School Admission Code.

Once proposed changes have been implemented the governing body must inform the Secretary of State by ensuring that EduBase (the department’s register of education establishments) is up to date.

Local authorities may also propose these changes for community schools and can propose expansion of foundation and voluntary schools. However, they must follow a streamlined statutory process (see below).

With regard to changes that do require a statutory process the transition requirements were that proposals published before 28 January 2014 would be determined under the previous regulations and proposals published after that date would be determined under the new regulations.

Proposers should beware if planning expansion on alternative sites such as satellite or split-site schools. The new provision must genuinely be a change to an existing school and not a new school. Decisions should be made on a case by case basis, but proposals on all of the following will be relevant:

  • reason for expansion;
  • admission and curriculum arrangements;
  • governance and administration;
  • physical characteristics of the school.

The more integration between sites the more likely the change can be said to be an expansion.

The changes that constitute prescribed alterations and for which the statutory process must still be followed are:

  • alteration of upper and lower age limit by three years or more;
  • adding or removing a sixth form;
  • removing boarding provision;
  • single sex school becoming co-educational or vice versa;
  • transferring to a new site;
  • closure of one site in a split site school;
  • removing selective admission arrangements at a grammar school;
  • changes of category (excluding changes to foundation);
  • establishing, removing or altering special education needs (SEN) provision at a mainstream school;
  • alteration of upper or lower age limit at a special school;
  • increasing or decreasing pupil numbers at a special school; and
  • changing the types of needs catered for by a special school.

There is now a four-stage statutory process comprising, publication, representations, decision and implementation.

The main changes to the previous processes are:

  • removal of specified consultation stage as a statutory requirement; and
  • reduction of representation period following publication of statutory notice from six weeks to four weeks for all proposals.

However the guidance confirms that sound “pre-publication” consultation is still good practice and, indeed, an expectation.

How far governing bodies utilise these new opportunities has yet to be seen but the dichotomy between the statutory requirement of a local authority to provide sufficient places for school age children within their area, under Section 14 Education Act 1996, as against the increasing ability of all schools to act independently in relation to their status and numbers can only be increased by the 2013 Regulations.

Catherine Newman is a senior solicitor at Sharpe Pritchard. She can be contacted This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

School Organisation Maintained Schools: Guidance for Proposers and Decision Makers

The slimmed down guidance replaces 9 previous guidance documents:

  • Making Changes to a Maintained Mainstream School;
  • Closing a Maintained Mainstream School;
  • Expanding a Maintained School by Expansion or Adding A Sixth Form;
  • Changing School Category to Foundation;
  • Removal of a School Trust;
  • Trust School Proposals;
  • Changing to a Foundation School;
  • Decision Makers Guidance;
  • Changing to a Trust School;
  • Decision Maker’s Guidance.