Foundation / community /voluntary controlled / voluntary aided ????? help

[tvaerialmagpiebin]

Please can someone explain this to me.

What is the difference between a foundation school and a community school?

I presume that VO and VC are church schools but what is the difference?

And why oh why can't the education department have some way of publishing all this information without causing me all this grief?

Thanks.....

Community schools are controlled by the local authority. The others have varying amounts of independence.

Voluntary controlled schools are generally faith schools (usually CofE). The land and buildings are usually owned by the church which appoints some of the governors but the school is still controlled by the local authority.

Voluntary aided schools are again generally faith schools. All Roman Catholic schools and schools of non-Christian faiths fall into this category. The land and buildings are owned by the church or other faith, which appoints the majority of governors and has to meet a proportion of any capital costs. They set their own admission arrangements, although you still apply through the LA for admission.

Foundation schools are generally non-faith schools. All costs are met by the government but they employ their own staff and set their own admission criteria. As with all other types of school you apply through the LA for admission.

oh thank you, that makes much more sense now.

Are schools / LAs required to make available the numbers of places that were allocated by the particular criteria? I can't find any data like that but it would be useful to know before I choose between schools.

The school my DC attend was a community school but are now a Foundation school. This in simple terms means they have ultimate control over admissions etc which have been an issue in the past. It is a non faith school.

The schools do not have to publish data on the number of places allocated under each criteria. What they have to do is publish data on the criteria under which the last pupils was offered a place on the initial allocation. Please note that it is at the initial allocation date not the actual last pupil that got a place at the school, so whilst it is a good indicator it is not an absolute.
There will be information about how many applications there were for the school. You need to realise that if the form allows 3 preferences to be stated then there may well be far more applicants than actually really want a place at the school. The data should be there for how many expressed a wish to go to the school as first preference. This number in comparison to the number allowed by the Admission Number is a reasonable approximation of how popular the school is.
The information will be in the admission booklet published by the Local Authority and it will have all state schools in it, no matter what their type.

Lankyalto - the LA should have this information. They aren't required to publish it but you could always lodge a Freedom of Information Request if this is important to you.

Thanks everyone. I have now found some admission info, but it is for 2007/8. But I will contact the LA and see what they say. I am just interested to see, really, I am statistically challenged but nosy!