Schools: Free Schools

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I would not class them as coasting. It is a very small sample. They are a long way short of coasting. Twenty-six per cent of free schools have been judged outstanding, which makes them by far our highest performing group of non-selective state schools. Free schools are monitored by Ofsted, like all other schools, and the EFA. They have much tighter financial oversight than local authority-maintained schools because they have annually to publish audited independent accounts, and regional schools commissioners also monitor them.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

Can my noble friend say what percentage of children entering school have English as their second language?

[Lord Nash]

Across the entire estate, I think the figure is in the teens, but I will write to my noble friend about that.