Regulation of all state schools

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State schools standards

All state schools regardless of whether they have academy status, are free schools or are maintained and supervised by the local authority, are regulated by the Department of Education and inspected by Ofsted.

This subtopic covers the core areas common to all state schools (for an explanation on the categories of schools please see Practice Note: Categories of schools). For commentary unique to maintained schools or academies and free schools, please see our topics Maintained schools and further education—overview and Academies and free schools—overview in our 'Education' module.

All state schools must have robust structures in place to ensure the following requirements are met:

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