Virtual Schools
Dear Education and Skills Funding Agency,
Can you please provide a list of all Virtual Free School in England.
Within the list include:
- age range of pupils
- LA school supports
- number of pupils funded (current academic year)
- total funds provided by ESFA (current academic year)
Also provide a copy of the business case for each free school approved in the last 3 years
Yours faithfully,
Interested person(s)
A Jones
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Dear A Jones
Thank you for your recent enquiry which was received on 11/04/2023 22:57 .
A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible and this should be within
20 working days, as you are requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2023-0015225 .
Yours sincerely
Caroline KNEBEL
Department for Education
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
Tel: 0370 000 2288
Web: [1]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [2]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [3]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk
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Dear A Jones,
Thank you for your request for information, received by the Department for
Education (the Department) on 11 April 2023.
I am responding to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
We do not hold the information you requested as the department has not
approved any virtual free schools. I can also clarify that there are no
state-funded virtual schools in England. For the purposes of this
response, we have taken virtual schools to mean schools providing their
education primarily online.
The term ‘virtual school’ can also refer to the arrangements put in place
by a local authority to support and improve the educational achievement of
looked after children. These arrangements are not schools themselves, but
a way of coordinating information about looked after children across the
schools that they attend. If your enquiry relates to this type of
arrangement, I would be grateful if you could confirm.
We do not hold any information relating to the second part of your request
because we have assumed that it relates to virtual free schools. The
process of applying to open a new free school does not involve a business
case. Instead, proposers wanting to set up a new free school apply within
an application round. Applications are assessed against a set of published
criteria. If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Yours sincerely,
Mainstream Free Schools Policy Team
Department for Education
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