Establishing a new academy: free school presumption
Guidance on establishing new schools before 1 September 2026 through the free school presumption route, and the qualities school proposers must demonstrate.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This guidance will be withdrawn on 1 September 2026.
From 1 September 2026, local authorities, proposers and decision-makers should follow the opening new schools guidance.
This guidance is for:
- local authorities
- academy trusts
It describes the process for establishing new academies (free schools) under the ‘free school presumption’. You should read it in conjunction with the annex documents on this page.
If a local authority or other proposer has consulted on a new school prior to 1 September 2026, they do not need to repeat the consultation if the invitation for new school proposals is published after 1 September 2026.
Local authorities can adapt the annex A model specification to specify what they need from proposers.
New school proposers can use the model application form in annex B to submit their proposals to the local authority.
Both local authorities and proposers should refer to the model criteria for presumption schools in annex C when seeking proposals or making applications.
Both local authorities and proposers should refer to annex D, pre-opening expectations, for information about the requirements (some of which are statutory) to be fulfilled during the pre-opening phase.
Single or multi-academy trusts establishing new academies and free schools should refer to the model academy and free school funding agreements.
Updates to this page
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Updated to give notice that this guidance will be withdrawn on 1 September 2026.
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Updated the 'Free schools presumption guidance' to reflect the emphasis placed on the resilience of new schools during the approval process.
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Replaced the 'Free school presumption guidance' and Annexes A, B, C and D with updated versions.
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Updated the free school presumption guidance to reflect the expectation that local authorities should involve the department in the assessment process and added a section on community cohesion. Added annex D covering pre-opening expectations.
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Updated 'Academy and free school presumption: guidelines' document.
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Updated guidance and all annex documents as of May 2018.
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Updated advice and added local authority specification form, proposer application form and model criteria for new schools.
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First published.