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A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded 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 ...
in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In most cases the foundation or trust owns the buildings. Such schools have more autonomy than voluntary controlled schools, which are entirely funded by the state. In some circumstances local authorities can help the governing body in buying a site, or can provide a site or building free of charge. Originally the term is derived from the funding of the schools through voluntary subscriptions and contributions. Although it is also the case that these are schools previously independent of local or national government that volunteered to be aided by the state.
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
's education system also has aided () schools.


Characteristics

The running costs of voluntary aided schools, like those of other state-maintained schools, are fully paid by central government via the local authority. They differ from other maintained schools in that only 90% of their capital costs are met by the state, with the school's foundation contributing the remaining 10%. Many VA faith schools belong to diocesan maintenance schemes or other types of funding programme to help them to manage those costs. VA schools are not allowed to charge fees to students, although parents are usually encouraged to pay a voluntary contribution towards the schools' maintenance funds. The foundation usually owns the school's land and buildings, although there are instances where VA schools use local authority land and buildings. The foundation appoints a majority of the
school governor In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are the overseers of a school. In state schools, they have three main functions: *Giving the school a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction *Holding the headteacher to account for th ...
s, who run the school, employ the staff and decide the school's admission arrangements, subject to the national Schools Admissions Code. Specific exemptions from Section 85 of the Equality Act 2010 enables VA faith schools to use faith criteria in prioritising pupils for admission to the schools. Pupils at voluntary aided schools follow the National Curriculum. Like all faith schools, VA faith schools may teach religious education according to their own faith.


History

Prior to the 19th century, there were a variety of schools in England and Wales, from charity schools providing basic education for the poor to endowed schools (often
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) providing secondary or all-age education. Early in that century, the British and Foreign School Society and the National Society for Promoting Religious Education sought to provide elementary schooling for poor children, setting up non-denominational British Schools and
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, ...
National schools respectively. From 1833, the State began to provide grants to support these elementary schools and the less wealthy endowed schools. They were joined by the Catholic Poor School Committee, which established
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
elementary schools and received its first state grant in 1847. Secondary education also expanded at the same time, including a series of Roman Catholic secondary schools established by religious orders. The state began to provide elementary education in 1870 and secondary education in 1902, but also continued to increase funding to the schools run by other organisations (usually the churches), now known as voluntary schools. The Voluntary Schools Act 1897 refers to school income 'derived from voluntary contributions, rates, school fees, endowments, or any source whatever other than the Parliamentary grant' and specifically defines a voluntary school as a public elementary day school not provided by a school board'. Following the aforementioned Act these schools were increasingly influenced by the state, and were subject to jointly administered inspections. In 1926, secondary voluntary schools were required to choose between being "grant-aided" by the local authority, or receiving a "direct grant" from central government. Under the Education Act 1944, most of the direct grant schools became direct grant grammar schools. The Act also imposed higher standards on school facilities, and offered the remaining voluntary schools a choice in funding the costs this would incur: * Voluntary controlled schools would have all their costs met by the state, and would be controlled by the local education authority. * Voluntary aided schools would have all of their running costs met by the state, but their capital costs would only be partly state funded, with the foundation retaining greater influence over school admission policies, staffing and curriculum. The Catholic Church chose to retain control of all of its schools, while more than half of Church of England schools became voluntary controlled. The state contribution to capital works for voluntary aided schools was originally 50%. It was increased to 75% by the Education Act 1959, and is now 90%.


Education Act 1975

By the mid-1970s, under Harold Wilson's second Labour government, most local authorities were in the final stages of reorganising secondary education along comprehensive lines. The Roman Catholic hierarchy supported this change. Some non-Catholic voluntary aided
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 opposed it. Local authorities could not compel voluntary aided schools to change any aspect of their admissions, but they could submit a proposal to the Minister to cease to maintain a school. This was done in cases where the local authority and school could not agree. Some of these schools became
private schools A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...
: Direct grant status was abolished at the same time and over 40 such schools, almost all Roman Catholic, converted to voluntary aided status. Many voluntary aided schools converted to grant-maintained status in the late 1980s, generally reverting to voluntary aided status when grant-maintained status was abolished in 1998. A few formerly independent faith schools that had become grant-maintained in the early 1990s also converted to voluntary aided status at that time. By 2008, within the maintained sector in England, approximately 22% of primary schools and 17% of secondary schools were voluntary aided, including all of the Roman Catholic schools and the schools of non-Christian faiths. Almost all voluntary aided primary schools and 93% of voluntary aided secondary schools were linked to a religious body, usually either the Church of England or the Catholic Church, with a minority of other faiths. In November 2012, the interpretation of the Education Act 2011, which appeared to prioritise the creation of academies over maintained schools, was tested by a
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
, which upheld the decision of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to establish voluntary aided schools, St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, without first seeking proposals for an academy.


See also

* Voluntary controlled school *
State-funded schools (England) English state-funded schools, commonly known as state schools, provide Education in England, education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend 24,000 such schools. Since 2008 abou ...
*
Education in Wales This article provides an overview of education in Wales from early childhood education, early childhood to university and adult education, adult skills. Largely state-funded and freely accessible at a primary school, primary and secondary school, ...
* * Charter school * Education Act 1902


References


Further reading

* * {{authority control State schools in the United Kingdom Voluntary aided Education in England Education in Wales Education finance in the United Kingdom Public education in the United Kingdom Schools in England Schools in Wales