The school system in United Kingdom is divided in to two main groups, which is divided into different stages it starts from early years education, primary, secondary, higher and further education. The children progress from nursery, reception, key stages 1,2,3 and 4. The two main groups of schools are:
Maintained schools/ State schools
Independent schools/ Private schools
1. Community schools:
These state schools are also known as county schools in England and Wales and are run and owned by local education authorities. The building and land is owned by LA and they are responsible for hiring the staff and determine the school admission policy. The local education authority provides support services like psychological service and special need services. The school must follow the National curriculum. The school admission criteria include:
If the child lives in the area of the school
If the child has any siblings at the school
If the child has any disability that makes it difficult to travel to any other school The faculty of the school can also be used for services like childcare or adult learning.
2. Independent schools:
These schools are not funded by LA and are run by the fees paid by the parents or sometimes through the charitable trust funds. These are also called private schools run by their own governing body. The school doesn’t have to follow the national curriculum. The school head teacher and the governing body is responsible to employ staff, determine the admission policy, administer support services, most of them are full or partial boarding schools. According to the independent school s council the schools have received approximately £100m tax relief due to charitable status and returned £300m of fee assistance in public benefit relieving £2bn of cost. According to the admission policy the pupil’s family must be able to pay the school fee and other expenses like