School organisation: local-authority-maintained schools
Statutory guidance for proposers and decision makers about opening, closing or making organisation changes to local-authority-maintained schools.
- From:
- Department for Education
- Published
- 28 January 2014
- Last updated
-
23OctoberMarch20242025 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
Opening and closing maintained schools
PDF, 702689 KB, 53 pages
Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools
PDF, 898493 KB, 6162 pages
Details
These documents are for:
- local authorities
- governing bodies
- diocese or other relevant religious authorities
They describe opening, closing, or making school organisation changes to local-authority-maintained schools.
They set out how you can make those changes, and the areas where you must follow a statutory process.
This guidance is based on:
- The School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013
- The School Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools) Regulations 2013
- Education and Inspections Act 2006
Statutory guidance sets out what schools and local authorities must do to comply with the law. You should follow the guidance unless you have a very good reason not to.
Trustees of the school, diocese or relevant diocesan board, or any other relevant faith body, parents and those affected by a proposal may also find this information useful.
Updates to this page
Published 28 January 2014
Last updated 23 OctoberMarch 2024
2025
+ show all updates
-
Updated 'Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools'.
-
Updated guidance to reflect Ofsted's removal of single word judgements.
-
-
We have reviewed this guidance and removed out-of-date information. The legislation remains the same.
-
-
Updated 'Opening and closing maintained schools' document.
-
-
Removed 'Deciding prescribed alteration and establishment and discontinuance proposals'.
-
-
Removed 2016 document 'Opening and closing local-authority-maintained schools'. Has been replaced with document from November 2018.
-
-
Replaced file 'Making significant changes to maintained schools' with 'Opening and closing maintained schools'.
-
-
Attached new version of 'Making significant changes ('prescribed alterations') to maintained schools' to update the guidance from 2016.
-
-
We have comprehensively reviewed and updated all 3 documents. The changes include corrections to discrepancies in the guidance on making ‘prescribed alterations’ to local-authority-maintained schools.
-
-
Updated page to explain that we are currently reviewing our guidance to local-authority-maintained schools. We will update it shortly.
-
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Details
These documents are for:
- local authorities
- governing bodies
- diocese or other relevant religious authorities
They describe opening, closing, or making school organisation changes to local-authority-maintained schools.
They set out how you can make those changes, and the areas where you must follow a statutory process.
This guidance is based on:
- The School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013
- The School Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools) Regulations 2013
- Education and Inspections Act 2006
Statutory guidance sets out what schools and local authorities must do to comply with the law. You should follow the guidance unless you have a very good reason not to.
Trustees of the school, diocese or relevant diocesan board, or any other relevant faith body, parents and those affected by a proposal may also find this information useful.
Updates to this page
Last updated
-
Updated 'Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools'.
-
Updated guidance to reflect Ofsted's removal of single word judgements.
-
We have reviewed this guidance and removed out-of-date information. The legislation remains the same.
-
Updated 'Opening and closing maintained schools' document.
-
Removed 'Deciding prescribed alteration and establishment and discontinuance proposals'.
-
Removed 2016 document 'Opening and closing local-authority-maintained schools'. Has been replaced with document from November 2018.
-
Replaced file 'Making significant changes to maintained schools' with 'Opening and closing maintained schools'.
-
Attached new version of 'Making significant changes ('prescribed alterations') to maintained schools' to update the guidance from 2016.
-
We have comprehensively reviewed and updated all 3 documents. The changes include corrections to discrepancies in the guidance on making ‘prescribed alterations’ to local-authority-maintained schools.
-
Updated page to explain that we are currently reviewing our guidance to local-authority-maintained schools. We will update it shortly.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Update history
2025-08-11 15:59
Updated ‘Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools’ to clarify Diocesan Board of Education involvement in the prescribed alterations process. The legislation remains the same.
2025-03-03 09:30
Updated ‘Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools’.
2024-10-02 12:00
Updated guidance to reflect Ofsted’s removal of single word judgements.
2023-01-30 15:00
We have reviewed this guidance and removed out-of-date information. The legislation remains the same.