Trust school - at a glance FAQs

What is a trust school?

A trust school is:

• A government funded foundation school supported by a charitable trust
• The trust is made up of the school and partners working together for the benefit of the school

A trust school will:

• Deliver a full curriculum for your child
• Continue to be inspected by Ofsted
• Manage its own assets, that means land and buildings
• Employ its own staff
• Set its own admissions arrangements
• Choose which partners to work with, for example other schools, businesses, business foundations, colleges, universities or community groups

A trust school is not:

• An academy
• A grant maintained school
• An independent school
• Involved in an admissions 'free-for-all'
• Funded differently from community schools
• Run by businesses
• Separated from the local authority
• Able to sell its land without going through the proper processes
• Able to avoid local authority re organisation plans

Benefits

Depending on the kind of trust, its aims and the nature of its partners it may:

• Enable schools/partners to raise standards of attainment for children
• Enable schools/partners to share thoughts and ideas about how to improve the school to benefit learners
• Enable schools/partners to share resources and expertise to give better value for money
• Provide opportunities for learning in a variety of environments beyond the school
• Offer additional enrichment activities to your child both within the curriculum and beyond
• Be able to work with its partners to enhance the way it attends to your childs well being
• Enable schools/partner to work more closely with the local community
• Enable the school/partners to access additional charitable funds
• Enable schools/partners to deliver a more diverse curriculum