A community school in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

is a type of state-funded school in which the

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

employs the school's staff, is responsible for the school's admissions and owns the school's estate. The formal use of this name to describe a school derives from the

School Standards and Framework Act 1998 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government led by Tony Blair. This Act: * imposed a limit of 30 on infant class sizes. * abolished grant-maintained schools, introduci ...

.School Standards and Framework Act 1998
Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Board school

In the mid-19th century, government involvement in schooling consisted of annual grants to the

National Society for Promoting Religious Education The National Society (Church of England and Church in Wales) for the Promotion of Education, often just referred to as the National Society, and since 2016 also as The Church of England Education Office (CEEO), is significant in the history of ed ...

and the

British and Foreign School Society The British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) was founded in the early 19th century to support free and non-denominational British Schools in England and Wales. These schools competed with the National schools run by the National Society for Promo ...

(BFSS) to support the "voluntary schools" that they ran, and monitoring inspections of these schools. The

Elementary Education Act 1870 The Elementary Education Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities wit ...

( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75) imposed stricter standards on schools, and provided for the setting up of locally elected

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

s in boroughs and parishes across England and Wales, empowered to set up elementary-level board schools where voluntary provision was insufficient to meet local education need. A number of voluntary schools, especially those of the BFSS, chose to become board schools. Parents were still required to pay fees, though the fees of the poorest were paid by the board.

County School

The

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7. c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conserva ...

abolished school boards, transferring their functions to counties and boroughs acting as local education authorities. The board schools were thus renamed county schools. The act also introduced county secondary schools, which were greatly expanded during the early 20th century. Prior to the changes introduced in the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

the county secondary schools provided a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

type education to a small sector of the school age population. The majority of children were educated in an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

until the then school leaving age of 14. The name 'county school' was prestigious and remained in common usage to describe local grammar schools after 1944. Some schools retain the word 'county' in their name whether still under local authority control or moved to

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

status viz.

Chelmsford County High School for Girls Chelmsford County High School for Girls or "CCHS", is a selective grammar school for girls aged 11–18 located in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Entrance to the school is by an academic selection test. CCHS is traditionally rated among the most co ...

, Colchester County High School for Girls, Enfield County School, Ilford County High School, Guildford County School,

Wallington County Grammar School Wallington County Grammar School (WCGS) is a selective state boys' grammar school with a Mixed-sex education, coeducational Sixth form, Sixth Form located in the London Borough of Sutton. From 1968 to the mid-1990s the school was known as Wal ...

School Standards and Framework Act 1998

Local authority maintained schools were renamed community schools in the

. In 2008 approximately 61% of the state-funded primary and secondary schools in England were community schools.

References

{{authority control State schools in the United Kingdom School types Education in England Education in Wales Public education in the United Kingdom Schools in England Schools in Wales

Board school

County School

School Standards and Framework Act 1998

See also

References