What are Comprehensive and Foundation Schools?

Choosing the right type of school for yourself is a difficult job. You may be confused about which school you want to go to. There are basically two types of schools that you can get into – foundation and comprehensive schools. If you are also thinking of getting into the school, you must know what are comprehensive and foundation schools.

Quick Takeaways

• Comprehensive schools are secondary schools that benefit financially from either local governments or the government directly. 
• Whereas, Foundation schools are like maintained schools that are state-funded schools where the governing body has more power over how the school is run.

However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of the difference between the comprehensive and foundation school.

What are comprehensive schools?

Comprehensive schools are secondary schools that benefit financially from either local governments or the government directly. They are not influenced by religious organizations or businesses, and they stick to the national curriculum. They can be members of a self-governing academy trust that manages the school.

Comprehensive schools, unlike selective schools, do not limit your intake based on your academic achievement. You will see more applicants and thus larger class sizes due to it. Even though the overall class size is increasing, comprehensive schools continue to have more students per class. The goal of comprehensive schools is to eliminate early selection processes and give you equal opportunity. You will get a lot of subjects to study in these schools. If you are confident enough and have good grades you may also apply for school perfect. There are several different types of school perfects like head boy/girl.

What are foundation schools?

Foundation schools are like maintained schools that are state-funded schools where the governing body has more power over how the school is run. It means that they are supported by a local education authority. Foundation schools must follow the national curriculum and pay the national teacher wage.

Are comprehensive schools the same as state schools?

A comprehensive school is a school that anyone can attend. It is regardless of your academic performance, and where you will study with others together. They are typically managed by the local education authority, which is a branch of the local council in that area. Whereas, state school is a government-funded school, so your parents will not be required to pay school fees. This type of school is attended by the vast majority of children. In general, government-funded schools must adhere to the national curriculum. Thus both are different. They are different from UK private schools.

What is the difference between a foundation school and a community school?

As we have already discussed, when you are going to a comprehensive school you can get admission irrespective of your academic performance. In it, the government directly interferes with the working of the school. Whereas, the foundation schools are looked after by the local governments. Admission to these schools is totally based on the evaluation of the student’s performance. 

What are the advantages of comprehensive schools?

The following are the advantages of getting into comprehensive schools-

• You can get admission to the school irrespective of your grades and marks. This will be a great help if you have scored less in your exams due to some reason.
• Many students are unable to focus on their exams due to their interest and talent in other activities like dancing. By getting into comprehensive schools you will be able to focus on your interests as well.
• These schools do not do discrimination against students on the basis of academic performance, family background, region, etc. 
• As they are directly funded by the government, they generally provide more good resources to you.

What are the disadvantages of comprehensive schools?

The following are the disadvantages of getting into comprehensive schools-

• Though they promote equality, they are made in wealthy areas. This helps to bring the kids of these areas to these schools. 
• It may be a problem for you as they are located far away from the area you live. Thus location again becomes a drawback for comprehensive schools.
• The acceptance rate of these schools is quite high. Thus it may restrict you from growing individually.
• As everyone is welcome in the school, the classrooms are generally big in size. Due to it, you may not get proper attention from your teachers.

What are the advantages of foundation schools?

The following are the advantages of foundation schools-

• These schools have more control over how they want to run themselves. This means that they can make changes depending on the student’s and teachers’ needs. However, they may need to inform the government if required.
• They need to have at least 7 governors that will look after the school. Of these 7 governors, there must be two of the parents of a student. This allows us to have decisions in not just favor of teachers but also students.
• In addition to this, the curriculum that they teach in the school is related to the OFSTED. This means that you will get a quality education in these schools.

What are the disadvantages of foundation schools?

The following are the disadvantages of foundation schools-

• It relies highly on your academic performance due to which many students are unable to apply to these schools. 
• Again these schools are located in wealthy areas. This means that poor students may be unable to get into these schools.
• Sometimes the teachers that are hired in the school may not be a good fit for the school.
• As these are located in wealthy areas, many times students that get admission to the schools are richer than others. Due to this, there may be conflicts among them.

Conclusion

The two most common types of schools to which you may go are – foundation and comprehensive schools. Foundation schools are the schools in which you get admission based on your academic performance whereas comprehensive schools are the ones in which you are selected irrespective of your academic performance.