These documents show:

• the total number of open academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs in England
• details of schools that are in the process of getting academy status
• progress schools are making towards converting to academy status
• sponsored academy projects in development and the agreed sponsor

We update this data monthly as more academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs open. Older versions of this publication can be found by visiting the https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/*/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development" class="govuk-link">National Archives.

Details of successful free school and UTC applications are available.

The Secretary of State for Education announced these pilots on 28 April 2021. They were developed in partnership with the Church of England and the Catholic Education Service.

While there are a significant number of strong Church of England and Catholic multi-academy trusts, as a group, they have a smaller proportion of academies compared to non-Church schools. He explained the aims of the pilots during this speech.

We are publishing, for the second time, academies’ income and expenditure data. However, this is the first statistical first release (SFR) to cover data on the income and expenditure of academies in England. It has been produced in response to the Department for Education’s commitment to publish academy trusts’ financial data in a form that is comparable with the publication of local authority (LA) maintained schools data - consistent financial reporting (CFR).

Alongside this SFR, the academic year 2011 to 2012 data has also been published in Excel format, as was done last year, but now with improved benchmarking capability to make it possible for academies to benchmark themselves against each other. We are also publishing the raw data file so that people can carry out further analysis themselves. Topline attainment indicators from the 2012 performance tables have been included in these tables. They are: the percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in both English and mathematics at key stage 2 and the percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A* to C GCSEs (or equivalent), including English and maths GCSEs.

The SFR presents information on the income and expenditure in academies in England, using data from the benchmarking section of the academic year 2011 to 2012 accounts returns, completed by each academy trust for the period ending 31 August 2012 (generally the academic year September 2011 to August 2012). Included in the publication, for the first time, will be information on the income and expenditure of the first free schools that opened in September 2011.

Throughout this release, we have used the term ‘academy’ to mean ‘academy trust’, which is defined to include the following entities:

• sponsored academies
• converter academies
• free schools
• university technical colleges
• city technology colleges
• special academies
• studio schools

There has been considerable progress in aligning the benchmarking return (accounts return) dataset and the LA-maintained schools data - CFR - however, it remains that they are not directly comparable for a number of reasons including that academies receive additional funding to reflect their wider responsibilities and that the CFR relates to funding allocated and spent within a standard financial year - April to March. Academies, and the accounts return, work on a financial and academic year of September to August.

All schools and academies work to achieve the best outcomes for their pupils and must use their resources effectively to do this. By publishing academies’ spend data alongside attainment data and other contextual information, we want to help academies to see if they are delivering value for money and equip parents with the information they need to ask questions of schools. We want to encourage people - and the academies themselves - to look at their spending, including that spending compared to other academies, so that they can ask questions about spending decisions and identify areas where there is scope to improve value for money.

To make meaningful comparisons between academies, it is important to consider the percentage of children eligible for free school meals, the type of academy (including whether it is a primary or secondary academy) and whether it is in London or not. This is because all these factors will affect how much an academy spends.

This publication was updated in October 2013 to include data from academy trusts that did not provide the Education Funding Agency (EFA) with their benchmarking return (accounts return) in time for inclusion in the original publication.

The 4 files attached are: statistical first release, an Excel workbook which holds all of the academies’ income and expenditure data and the raw data, a user guide and a pre-release access list.

These lists are for:

• school leaders
• local authorities
• academy trusts
• governing bodies
• RISE advisers
• educational stakeholders

RISE advisers are educational experts with direct experience improving schools. For targeted intervention, they will engage with the eligible school and its responsible body to consider the school’s specific improvement needs.

32 schools joined the RISE targeted intervention programme in February 2025. A further 186 schools joined the programme in the summer term.

Eligibility for RISE targeted intervention in the academic year 2025 to 2026 is identified through Ofsted inspections. Schools may gain or lose eligibility for the programme as they are inspected. This list is based on published Ofsted management information as of 31 March 2025.

Ofsted and the Department for Education are currently consulting on changes which will inform future criteria.

‘Local authorities seeking proposers’ contains details of all local authorities seeking proposers to establish a new academy or free school.

It includes the:

• name of the local authority
• location of the new school
• phase of education
• capacity of the school
• sponsor application closing date
• link to the local authority specification and application form

‘Section 6A approved and under consideration schools’ contains details of:

• academies and free schools that have approval
• free schools that do not yet have approval under the academies and free school presumption section of the Education and Inspections Act 2006

It includes the:

• name of the local authority
• proposed location of the school at the time of approval
• phase of education
• proposed opening date at the time of approval (which can change)

Read the free school presumption guidance for further information about the process for establishing new schools.

A ‘stuck’ school is a school that has:

• had consistently poor inspection outcomes throughout the last 13 years
• been judged to be inadequate, satisfactory or to require improvement in every inspection it’s had between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2020
• had at least 4 full inspections in the period

When the school has become an academy, or changed its unique reference number for any other reason (such as being re-brokered in to a multi-academy trust), then the outcomes of inspections of the predecessor school are also included.

A ‘stuck’ school which improved to good between 31 August 2019 and 31 August 2020 is a school that has:

• been judged to be inadequate, satisfactory or to require improvement in every inspection it’s had between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2019
• had at least 4 full inspections in the period
• been judged to be good in an inspection between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020

This data set was published with Ofsted’s Annual Report 2020.

The breakfast clubs early adopters scheme is designed to break down barriers to opportunity, as well as tackle the impact of child poverty.

Schools that become early adopters will get early access to government funding to deliver free and universal breakfast clubs from the first day of summer term 2025.

The secondary school and multi-academy trust performance data (based on revised data) shows:

• attainment results for pupils at the end of key stage 4
• the progress made by pupils between the end of primary school to the end of secondary school