The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government led by

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

. This Act: * imposed a limit of 30 on

infant In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

class sizes. * abolished grant-maintained schools, introducing foundation status. * provided for a schedule of fully selective state schools (

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 ...

s), and set up a procedure by which local communities could vote for their abolition. No grammar schools have yet been abolished using this mechanism. * prohibited the expansion of partial selection but allowed some

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

s to admit 10% of pupils based on aptitude in their subject specialisms. * introduced super headteachers and Education Action Zones * introduced an Admissions Code and the office of Schools Adjudicator to enforce this Code and consider objections to admission arrangements. *introduced a right of appeal against the refusal of an admission authority to offer an applicant child a place at the relevant school. * expanded on the requirement that "each pupil in attendance at a community, foundation or voluntary school shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship" of a “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character” for community schools. * created the local ''School Organisation Committee'' to decide school organisation proposals (opening, merging, closing) and responsible for approving the local School Organisation Plan. The ''School Organisation Committee'' consisted of five voting groups: :#LEA, made up of elected members :#

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

:# Learning and Skills Council (often only vote on decisions affecting 16+ education) :#schools, by serving governors. * banned

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

in all schools.

See also

References

Further reading