ABSTRACT
Introduced in the 2010 Academies Act, the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government’s Free School policy encourages diverse organisations to initiate new schools in England. Independent of Local Authorities (LAs), they are financed centrally on the per capita basis applied to LA-maintained schools (DfE 2013b). Free Schools’ distinction from Academies (introduced under the previous Labour Government) owes to their status as ‘Additional Schools’ (Academies Act 2010, 6). This would include instances where an Academy is set up in place of a previous maintained school and subsequently provides for a greater age range.
