Education Act 1996

89 Grouping of schools under a single governing body

(1) Subject to subsection (2), a local education authority may resolve that any two or more schools maintained by them shall be grouped for the purposes of this Chapter.

(2) If the instrument of government of any of the schools names a person as a sponsor of the school, a local education authority may only pass a resolution under subsection (1) if all the schools are secondary schools.

(3) Where any schools are grouped under this section, they shall—

(a) be treated for the purposes of this Chapter as a single school; and

(b) have a single governing body constituted under a single instrument of government.

(4) A group shall be treated for the purposes of this Chapter—

(a) as an aided school, if it contains at least one aided school;

(b) as a special agreement school, if it contains at least one special agreement school and paragraph (a) does not apply;

(c) as a controlled school, if it contains at least one controlled school and neither paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) applies;

(d) as a maintained special school, if it consists only of maintained special schools; and

(e) as a county school, if none of paragraphs (a) to (d) applies.

(5) In this Part—

• “group” means two or more schools grouped under this section; and

• “grouped school” means a school which forms a part of a group.

(6) Any reference in any enactment to the governing body or governors of a school shall be construed, in relation to any grouped school, as a reference to the governing body or governors of the group.