Funding

What type of school is it?

Leonard Stanley Primary School is a Church of England voluntary aided state-funded faith school.

State-funded schools in England are schools in England which provide education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge.

The Local Education Authority who predominantly funds our school is Gloucestershire County Council.

What is a faith school?

A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded faith schools, although many independent (private) schools also have religious characteristics.

Faith schools may give priority to applicants who are of the faith, and specific exemptions from Section 85 of the Equality Act 2010 enable them to do that. However, state-funded faith schools must admit other applicants if they cannot fill all of their places and must ensure that their admission arrangements comply with the Schools Admissions Code.

What is a Voluntary Aided School?

A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation, in this case the Gloucester Diocese, contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school.

Such schools have more autonomy than voluntary controlled schools , which are entirely funded by the state. In most cases the foundation or trust owns the buildings. In some circumstances Local Authorities can help the governing body in buying a site, or can provide a site or building free of charge.

Voluntary aided schools are a kind of "maintained school", meaning that they receive all their running costs from central government via the local authority. The majority are also faith schools.

In contrast to other types of maintained school, only 90% of the capital costs of a voluntary aided school are met by the state. The Gloucester Diocese contributes the remaining 10% of the capital costs, and many VA faith schools belong to diocesan maintenance schemes or other types of funding programme to help them to manage those costs.

The foundation usually owns the school's land and buildings, although there are instances where VA schools use local authority land and buildings.

The foundation appoints a majority of the school governors. The governing body runs the school, employs the staff and decides the school's admission arrangements, subject to the national Schools Admissions Code.

Pupils at voluntary aided schools follow the National Curriculum.

Voluntary Aided (VA) faith schools, like all faith schools, may teach religious education according to their own faith.

School PTA

The school is also very lucky to have a very active PTA (Friends of Leonard Stanley School) that fundraise continually throughout the year to pay for curriculum and play equipment, the running of the school swimming pool, coaches for PGL and the school pantomime trips, events such as the Christmas party and much more. You can find more information about FOLSS (Friends of Leonard Stanley School), what they fund and how you can get involved on their website.