Relocating to UK -comp, free school, academy???

[popmimiboo]

Having been abroad for so long, I don't know where to start looking into finding schools for my three DC.
In the area we're moving to there are 2 state comprehensives (both excellent ofsted, one RC, one non denominational), an academy and a free school.

Could someone briefly outline the differences in these schools, advantages/ disadvantages...

The free school is small and only opened a year ago. I'm wondering if it could be a good option for my DC to adapt to a new country and school system, but not at all sure how it will turn out academically as it's so new.

My eldest DC are 14 and 12. Both are good students, bright and quite academic. Language isn't a huge issue but they will obviously be behind in the curriculum.

Any thoughts?

A free school is a brand new school set up from scratch whereas most academies are existing schools which have converted. Otherwise there is no difference between them.

The state comprehensives you mention receive their funding from the LA who in turn receive it from the government. The LA keeps some of the funds for itself to fund certain services to schools. Academies and free schools receive their funding direct from the government. They therefore have to pay for the services that community schools receive from the LA. They may purchase these services from the LA, from other sources or go without if they don't think they need them (but they can't go without services the law says they need).

Free schools and academies have more freedom over the curriculum they teach, pay and conditions for staff and some other aspects of operating a school. Opinions are divided as to whether or not this is a good thing.

The big problem might be finding a good school with spaces. You may need to search further afield if the local schools are very popular. How selective, on religious grounds, is the RC school? Would you qualify for places there? Not always easy to get in. Lots to think about and good luck.

Hmm. Definitely lots to think about. DH is a lapsed catholic and the DC go to a catholic school over here but they were baptized anglican. Will try to find out policy but imagine it is quite strict.
So do I need to contact the free school and academy school directly rather than going through the LEA?

I'd love to hear from anyone whose DC currently attend a free school.
Long shot but the one I'm looking at is Durham...

The Catholic school cannot refuse to admit on religious grounds. If they have a place available when you apply they must offer it to you. However, if there is a waiting list and you don't meet their faith criteria you may be some way down the list.

Regarding the free school and academy you should start with the LA. Some LAs still deal with in-year admissions for all their schools. If this one doesn't they will tell you who you need talk to.

Your best best is posting on the local boards

OP, all free schools are very different, so you'd be better off asking about this one in particular rather than by school type. Check out the Head if possible, as a good Head will attract good staff to a new school and get it off to a flying start.

When you say it is small, how many children does it have in each year group? Anything less than 150 would raise red flags with me as I'd be worried that they wouldn't be able to provide a broad enough curriculum. Funding is on a per-pupil basis, so bigger schools tend to have more curriculum options and more extra-curricular activities too (though of course if the basics are covered you may not mind too much, and small schools have their own benefits - horses for courses and all that).

There's a basic explanation of different academy types here on Wikipedia.

Thanks for all the input so far.
From my own research, I've more or less eliminated the free school as it won't open a sixth form until 2018 which is too late for my eldest and I would really prefer them to be able to go through to 18 at the same school to avoid further changes after all the upheaval of changing country!
On paper (screen) the academy looks very promising. It's further from the city but in an area we like (and property is more affordable than the other two city centre schools.)

There doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic on the local site but I'll post over there and see.

What year did the free school open? Not your area but the secondary free school that opened in our city only took Y7 students the first year it opened (Sept 2011) so these children are the oldest year group in the school and some years are still empty. So the chances are that in September 2014 it will only have students in Y7 and Y8 and won't open a sixth form until it's oldest students need one!
Your ds1 (unless he turns 15 between now and September) would be in Y10.
There are 2 types of academy school. How long has the school been an academy. The oldest academy schools were former failing schools that were taken over by academy chains - most of these schools have improved enormously. More recent academy conversions are former outstanding schools that have been allowed to leave LEA control. In most of these schools parents haven't really noticed much difference and the schools have remained excellent. If it is a very recent conversion however there may not be an OFSTED report for the new academy yet as new schools are not inspected in the first year.

None of the schools are very far away from one another. You could easily live near one and send your child to a school on the other side of town. It only takes 20mins at rush hour to get from one side of the city to the other!

Maintained secondary schools - get their money via the local education authority; have to teach the national curriculum; have to stick to national pay scales for teachers; get OFSTED inspected

Converter Academies - schools that have previously been judged as effective and have chosen to break away from the local authority (some very effective schools choose to stay as maintained schools); get the money direct from government; can deviate from the national curriculum (many don't); can have own pay scales (many don't); get OFSTED inspected.

Sponsored Academies - schools that have previously been judged as poor and have been taken out of local authority control and into the control of a 'sponsor' who receives the money from the Government and passes it to the school; some sponsored academies are parts of 'chains'; can deviate from the national curriculum (many don't); can have own pay scales (many don't); get OFSTED inspected.

Free schools - school set up by local group (sometimes parents, sometimes another local school, sometimes an academy chain) with funding from the government; get the money direct from government; can deviate from the national curriculum (many don't); can have own pay scales (many don't); get OFSTED inspected.

The honest answer is that there are Great, Good and poor schools of all these types - you can't read anything of substance about the quality of the school from it's type.

I know the rc school - very good experiences - I'm not sure of current intake but historically mixed faiths (although mostly from catholic primaries). Sixth form is good too.

The area the academy (north?) is in is known as quite a deprived area - not sure of the school.

Steview -thanks. That's answered a lot of questions :-)

Wait4nothing -the academy is south in Bishop Auckland -is that the one you mean?
I didn't think the area was so bad but my knowledge is quite superficial, never having actually lived in the Durham area.

A lot of Durham is quite deprived. There are a lot of ex-mining villages that have been forgotten about but there are some absolutely beautiful areas too. My advice would be to come to the area and look around. If you aren't able to do that then I would rent for a while before buying.
Personally I wouldn't move to Bishop, but I can't give you any reasons why not. Just a feeling I get when I have been there. appreciates this is very unhelpful

The Free school only currently has year 7's. They will be the oldest kids throughout their time at the school.
I have heard a lot of good tales about the RC school.
Is the state school DJ? People seem to like the school, but for me it was a bit too much of an exam factory.
There is an academy just to the north of Durham as well, which is in a bit of a rough area, but to be honest I have lived in a lot worse places than that area and the parents I've spoken to whose kids go there seem to like it.

Just a minor correction to Steview's excellent post...

There are actually two groups of sponsored academies. One group is as Steview describes. The other group is converter academies that choose to have a sponsor. So the fact an academy has a sponsor does not necessarily mean it was previously a failing school.

prh47bridge - yes thank you for picking up that small, but very important, point.