Series details: CRDA/36

The Grant Maintained Schools Database was used by the former Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and its predecessors to collate information relating to grant-maintained (GM) schools: both schools which had obtained GM status, and those which had sought to become GM. It also held the details of conferences on GM issues. The data was primarily used for the following purposes:

• To monitor GM and prospective GM schools: e.g. to track the progress of attempts by schools to become GM, and to record significant changes to the characters of GM and prospective GM schools.
• To provide education ministers with information which could be used to answer parliamentary questions and correspondence on GM issues.1

The database covered schools and conferences in England; GM schools in Wales were the responsibility of the Welsh Office. A single dataset derived from the database has been transferred to NDAD.

Grant-maintained schools were created by the Education Reform Act 1988. This allowed schools which had been maintained by a Local Education Authority (LEA) to "opt out" of the LEA's control and receive their funding via grants from the central government. When a school obtained GM status, its governing body was reconstituted, taking over ownership of the school's property from the LEA and becoming the employer of the school's staff. It also became responsible for the school's admissions policy.2 Initially, only LEA-maintained secondary schools and primary schools with at least 300 registered pupils could seek GM status. The removal of the size limit on primary schools was announced by the government in 1990, while the Education Act 1993 allowed special schools (i.e. schools for pupils with special educational needs) to become GM. The 1993 Act established the Funding Agency for Schools to administer and monitor grant payments to GM schools.3 The provisions of the 1988 and 1993 Acts were consolidated in the Education Act 1996, which laid down the following procedures whereby schools could become GM:

• Each year, the governing bodies of schools were obliged to consider whether to hold a ballot of parents on whether to seek GM status, unless a ballot had been held in the previous school year.
• Governing bodies were required to ballot parents if a written request to do so was received from the parents of at least 20 percent of the registered pupils at the school, and no ballot had been held in the previous 12 months.
• A second ballot of parents had to be held if less than 50 percent of those eligible to vote did so; the results of a second ballot were final. The Secretary of State for Education and Employment could invalidate a ballot and order a further ballot if irregularities were detected.
• If a simple majority of parents voted in favour of becoming GM, the governing body had to publish proposals for the acquisition of GM status. These had to be produced within four months of the ballot and had to be approved by the Secretary of State, who could require modifications to the proposals.
• Once a school's proposals had been accepted, the new governing body would be incorporated. It would take over the running of the school from the previous governing body on the date named for the implementation of the proposals.
• Any proposal by a school to change its character significantly (e.g. by adding or removing a sixth form) or significantly expand its premises in conjunction with an application for GM status would have to be approved by the Secretary of State. Similarly, no existing GM school could significantly alter its character or enlarge or move its premises without the Secretary of State's approval.
• Two or more schools could seek GM status as a "group", which would be conducted by a single governing body if the attempt to go GM was successful. Groups - or "clusters" - were introduced by the Education Act 1993 to encourage small primary schools to become GM. Existing GM schools could also opt to come together as groups.
• New GM schools could be established by the Funding Agency for Schools or by "promoters", subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. GM schools established by promoters could be former independent (i.e. private) schools.4

Despite the encouragement of GM schools by the 1979-1997 Conservative governments, relatively few GM schools were established. By January 1998 there were 508 GM primary schools in England (compared to 17,804 LEA-maintained primary schools) 667 GM secondary school (versus 2,900 LEA-maintained secondary schools); and 21 GM special schools (versus 1,143 LEA-maintained special schools and 65 "non-maintained" special schools).5 In 1998 the new Labour government abolished GM Schools by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, which transferred responsibility for the maintenance of GM schools back to LEAs. The Act provided for the reclassification of former GM schools as foundation, voluntary aided or foundation special schools (schools could opt to be allocated to a different category than the one to which they were automatically assigned by the Act: it appears that a small number of ex-GM schools also became community schools). The Funding Agency for Schools was dissolved with effect from 1 November 1999.6

It is unclear when data about GM schools began to be systematically recorded, though this must have occurred at an early stage, as the date fields in the dataset transferred to NDAD contain a number of dates from 1988. It is thought that originally there were two databases: one holding details of conferences and open days for schools on "going GM", the other recording details of GM and prospective GM schools, parental ballots, the publication of schools' proposals on becoming GM, etc. Little information is available about these early systems (see Application software), and it is not known when they were amalgamated into a single database. What is clear is that the dataset transferred to NDAD originated from a version of the GM Schools Database (known as "version 101A") which was released on 1 September 1996. "Version 101A" is believed to have been the first implementation of a Microsoft SQL Server database within the DfEE.

The final modification to the system occurred in September 1999, when the new category field was added to the School table to record the classifications to which ex-GM schools were assigned following implementation of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Data was added to this field in September-October 1999, after which there appear to have been few additions to the database (the latest date recorded in the dataset transferred to NDAD is a date of December 1999 in the change date field in the History table). By late 2000 only two staff within the DfEE's School Admissions Organisation and Governance Division continued to have access to the system, which was rarely used. IT support for the database was intended to cease at the end of 2000.7

Within the Department for Education and Employment and its predecessor departments, responsibility for GM issues and the GM Schools Database passed through a number of divisions, beginning with Schools 4 Branch of the Department of Education and Science. This Branch is believed to have created the two databases which were the precursors of the GM Schools Database (see Aim and purpose). "Version 101a" of the database - from which the dataset transferred to NDAD was derived - was developed by the DfEE's Information Systems Division on behalf of School Places, Buildings and Governance Group, which dealt with GM issues. Responsibility for supporting the system and for modifications to it was subsequently outsourced from Information Systems Division to F.I. Group plc (in April 1997, F.I. Group took over responsibility for delivering application management services within the DfEE).

For further information about Schools 4 Branch and its successors and Information Systems Division's successors and predecessors, see the Administrative History of the Education Departments.

NDAD has received a single dataset which is a snapshot of the GM Schools Database at the time that the dataset was transferred to NDAD in March 2000. It is also effectively the final form of the database, as no additions or alterations are thought to have occurred after 1999 due to the redundancy of the system at the DfEE (see Aim and purpose). The dataset provides information about the following subjects:

(1) GM conferences. The "name" of the conference (normally the name of the town/city where the conference was held), the date of the conference, the venue of the conference (usually a hotel), and which schools attended the conference. In a small number of cases (210 records out of 5474 in the Attendance table), the status of a school's attempt to go GM is also indicated. Although the database was intended to record details of GM open days as well as GM conferences, in reality all of the records relate to GM conferences.

(2) Attempts to go GM. Details of attempts to gain GM status for schools, including who initiated the attempt (e.g. parents or the school's governors); the date when the attempt was initiated; the status of the attempt to go GM (e.g. whether the school was now operating as GM; whether proposals for going GM had been rejected by the Secretary of State); if parents had voted in favour of going GM, the date when the school published its proposals for acquiring GM status, the proposed date of operating as a GM school, and the date when a decision was taken by the Secretary of State to approve or reject the school's proposals. There could be more than one attempt to make a school GM provided that a ballot had not been held in the previous year (see Aim and purpose). Each attempt is recorded in the database, together with its number in the sequence of a school's attempts; the maximum number of attempts appears to have been three.

(3) GM ballots. An attempt to obtain GM status would lead to up to two ballots of parents. For each ballot, the dataset records whether it was the first, second or a void ballot; the number of people eligible to vote in the ballot; the number and percentage who actually voted; the numbers and percentages who voted in favour and against going GM; the result of the ballot; whether the ballot was to be investigated by the DfEE (and the date when a decision to investigate the ballot was taken); the school's LEA at the time of the ballot; the political control of the LEA (for most LEAs this information is not provided); the school's parliamentary constituency and Member of Parliament at the time of the ballot, and the MP's political affiliation.

(4) Main data on schools. The name and contact details of a school; its LEA; its parliamentary constituency; the name of the head teacher; the name and contact details of the chairman of the board of governors; the name of a representative who had agreed to speak on GM issues; the "phase" of education provided (e.g. primary, secondary); the type of school (e.g. grammar, comprehensive), and its type before becoming GM; the "origin" of a school (a classification reflecting how it was maintained before becoming GM); any denominational affiliation; whether a school selected its intake of pupils; the number of pupils a school was approved to have in a single year entry; the lower and upper age limits of its pupils; whether a school had a sixth form, boarding pupils or nursery places; whether the LEA had submitted proposals for a school's closure or reorganisation, and the date on which proposals were published; why and when a school was closed; the gender of pupils of statutory school age at the school; and the category to which a GM school was assigned following the abolition of GM status. Some of these details appear in only a handful of records, and occasionally not at all (e.g. the GM Speaker Name field - which records the names of speakers on GM issues - is entirely empty). The schools covered include schools which became GM, schools where an attempt was made to become GM, and schools which attended GM conferences.

(5) Changes to schools' identifying details. If a school's LEA, name or "school number" (the school's establishment number) changed during the life of the database, the former details are recorded, together with the date when the change occurred. Virtually all of the changes appear to have occurred to LEAs and establishment numbers.

(6) Changes to schools' characters. Where a significant change was proposed to the character of a GM or prospective GM school (e.g. to add or remove a sixth form or change the school's selection policy), the dataset records the type of change proposed; the date when the proposal was submitted to the Secretary of State; the result of the proposal (e.g. whether the change was approved or rejected); and the date of implementation of the change. The table which records significant character changes (the History table) also records the lower and upper age limits of pupils at the school, and (rarely) the school's selection policy. In some cases, the lower and upper age limits differ from those recorded in a school's main details (in the School table).

(7) Schools' Census data. A selection of data derived from schools' returns in the annual Schools' Census, held in January of each year. This includes: the year of the Census to which the data relates (data is held for the 1995-1999 Schools' Censuses); the numbers of full-time and part-time pupils at the school; the gender of pupils of statutory school age and outside the statutory school age; the numbers of full-time and part-time nursery pupils; the number of sixth form pupils; the numbers of full-time and part-time teachers, and the number of full-time equivalent teachers (i.e. full-time teachers plus the full-time equivalent of part-time teachers); the number of pupils with statements of special educational needs; the number of pupils with special educational needs but without statements; the numbers of 5 year olds and 11 year olds who entered the school that year; and the number of pupils receiving free school meals. Datasets relating to the Schools' Census have been transferred to NDAD: for further information, see the Series Catalogue of the Schools' Census (Form 7) datasets.

(8) Local Education Authorities. The names of LEAs, their political control, the date the LEA began operating (in the case of LEAs created by local government reorganisation during the lifetime of the database - a 'dummy' date is entered for LEAs which predated the database), and the date an LEA was dissolved.

(9) Members of Parliament. The names of MPs, their constituencies and their political affiliations. The list of MPs (in the Mp table) reflects the composition of the House of Commons following the 1997 General Election.

(10) Groups of GM schools. Schools which decided to group together under a single governing body are identified. In practice, only one group (or "cluster") consisting of two GM schools is recorded.

It is clear that some additional types of information were meant to be recorded in the GM Schools Database, but these features were not implemented, or were implemented but not used: see Logical structure and schema.

By 2000, the abolition of GM schools meant that the GM Schools Database was effectively redundant: no further data was being added to the system, and the database was rarely accessed (see Aim and purpose). Consequently, no further transfers of datasets to NDAD are expected.

The dataset derived from the GM Schools Database and related dataset documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The Public Record Office has assigned the dataset and documents to class ED 278.

Some of the data in the dataset derived from the GM Schools Database is closed for 30 years: details of the tables and fields which are affected are given in the Dataset Catalogue (see Links to dataset catalogues). Open data is available for browsing on demand by users of NDAD and does not have to be booked in advance. Some items of dataset documentation are also closed (see the Dataset Documentation Catalogue).

The dataset derived from the GM Schools Database and related dataset documentation are Crown Copyright. Copies may be made for private study and research purposes only.

The dataset derived from the GM Schools Database is subject to registration under the Data Protection Act. Subject access to the data is permitted.

The language of the materials is English.

Documents relating to the GM Schools Database have been transferred to NDAD and can be consulted via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.

"Version 101A" of the GM Schools Database, implemented in 1996 (see Aim and purpose), was accessed by its users via PCs linked to a server. No information is available regarding the hardware used prior to that time. Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 (see Application software) required a system "using a 486 or higher processor (Intel Pentium recommended), PowerPC, MIPS, R4xxx, or Alpha AXP processor".

Microsoft Windows NT 4 was the operating system used when the dataset derived from the GM Schools Database was transferred to NDAD in March 2000. No information is available regarding earlier operating systems, but it is likely that Windows NT was used from 1996 onwards, as Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 (see Application software) was designed for used with Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51 or later editions.

"Version 101A" of the database (released in 1996) was developed in Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. This database management system was used in conjunction with a report writing application, R&R Report Writer SQL Edition (in 2000, published by Liveware Publishing Inc.). The two databases which preceded the GM Schools Database (see Aim and purpose) are thought to have been created in dBase III.

The GM Schools Database had a hierarchy of users headed by a database manager, with a small number of individuals authorised to add or amend data, and a larger number with read-only access. Users moved through the system via a series of menus and windows which allowed them to view or add data, generate standard and ad hoc reports, produce mailing lists, search for records on a particular school etc. The standard reports which could be generated included a "Progress" report, which provided statistics on schools' attempts to become GM (the numbers of schools which were operating as GM, the numbers which had published proposals, the numbers where proposals were awaited, etc); and a report which listed selected details on an individual school (also known as a "Data Dump" report). NDAD has received examples of these reports as well as printouts of some of the Database's windows: see the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.8

The GM Schools Database was a relational database consisting of tables linked in 1:many and many:1 relationships. The system included a number of lookup tables which defined the codes entered in certain fields in the data tables.

A data model diagram has been transferred to NDAD which shows the entities and relationships in the database (Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/36/DD/1/1/1). In addition, NDAD has received an "entity description" (in effect, a data dictionary) which describes the tables in the system and the fields in each table (Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/36/DD/1/2/1). Both documents were produced in 1996 prior to the release of "version 101A" of the database. While these documents generally match the structure of the dataset transferred to NDAD, they also record significant features of the system's design which were never fully implemented:

• Tables relating to schools' annual exam results taken from published league tables (Exam_results and Valid_exam_results) are described in the documentation, but were never created.
• Although tables were set up to record details of reports on schools by the Office for Standards in Education (the Ofsted_visit table), and the types of activities which speakers on GM issues were prepared to undertake (the Speaker_activity table), no data was entered into these tables, which were empty when the dataset was transferred to NDAD.9

Other less significant discrepancies between the system documentation and the structure of the dataset transferred to NDAD are described in the Content Validation section of the Dataset Catalogue: see Links to dataset catalogues. The Dataset Catalogue provides a full listing of the tables in the dataset, while the Table Catalogues linked to the Dataset Catalogue give a detailed description of each table.

The GM Schools Database appears to have had a mixture of dynamic and closed (static) elements. Many tables clearly record data which was intended to be preserved and would not have been overwritten once it had been added to the system. For example, the Conference and Attendance tables record details of past GM conferences and the schools which attended them, respectively; the Ballot and GM_Attempt tables record details of past GM ballots and attempts to go GM. On the other hand, it is likely that data in the School table (the main information about schools) was meant to be amended as new information was received, as it was felt necessary to preserve a record of changes to certain identifying details of schools in a separate History table. The listing of Members of Parliament (in the Mp table) was also altered at some stage to reflect the membership of the House of Commons after the 1997 General Election: MPs who lost their seats in 1997 or before then do not appear in the table. However, the Ballot table records the name of a school's MP at the time that a ballot took place, and therefore includes individuals who do not appear in the Mp table.

Most of the information in the database was gathered through the administrative processes connected with the monitoring of GM and prospective GM schools by the DfEE and its predecessors. Data on GM ballots was supplied by Electoral Reform (Ballot Services) Ltd (a subsidiary company of the Electoral Reform Society), which was responsible for administering GM ballots. Information was also derived from schools' proposals to the Secretary of State for acquiring GM status. Schools' Census data was supplied by Analytical Services Branch of the DfEE, which was responsible for administering the Schools' Census (see the Series Catalogue of the Schools' Census (Form 7) datasets). A facility appears to have been developed to automatically extract data from the annual Schools' Census datasets and import the data into the GM Schools Database.

Random checks of data input to the database were carried out to ensure that data had been keyed correctly, but otherwise no attempt was made to validate the data.10

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD staff on the dataset derived from the GM Schools Database are contained in the Dataset Catalogue: see Links to dataset catalogues.

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. Notes of telephone conversation between NDAD and the DfEE on 13 October 2000.

2. Martin Rogers, Opting Out: Choice and the Future of Schools (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1992), pp. 16-19.

3. Rogers, Opting Out, pp. 63-64, 165; Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, ed., Halsbury's Laws of England: Fourth Edition Reissue (London: Butterworths, 1990), vol 15, p. 14; Andrew Davies, ed., Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales: Fourth Edition (London: Butterworths, 1997), vol 15 (1997 reissue), pp. 615-616, 751-752, 758; Department for Education and Employment press release 17/98 (16 January 1998), "New Board Member of the Funding Agency for Schools" (accessed via <http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GDE/GDE98Q1.html> on 6 October 2000).

4. Education Act 1996, sections 183-199, 211-213, 259, 280, 290: on-line copy <http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/1996056.htm> consulted on 6 October 2000. On "clusters" and groups of schools, see Rogers, Opting Out, pp. 167, 174.

5. Department for Education and Employment, Statistics of Education: Schools in England, 1998 (London: Stationery Office, 1998), p. 16.

6. School Standards and Framework Act 1998, sections 20, 132, Schedule 2: on-line copy <http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980031.htm> consulted on 6 October 2000; Funding Agency for Schools Dissolution Order 1999 (SI 1999/2767): on-line copy <http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1999/19992767.htm> consulted on 6 October 2000.

7. Notes of telephone conversation between NDAD and the DfEE on 13 October 2000; email of 17 October 2000 from the DfEE to NDAD; Data Owner transfer form for CRDA/36_1. On F.I. Group's role in relation to the DfEE, see F.I. Group web site, "Market Focus: Government: Department for Education and Employment" <http://www.figroup.co.uk/markets/government/dfee.htm> consulted on 20 November 2000.

8. Information on original system attributes is derived from notes of a telephone conversation between NDAD and the DfEE on 13 October 2000; an email of 17 October 2000 from the DfEE to NDAD; notes of a telephone conversation between NDAD and the DfEE on 31 October 2000; and the Data Owner transfer form for CRDA/36_1. Information about R&R Report Writer was taken from the web site of Liveware Publishing Inc, page on "What's New in R&R Version 8.1 SQL Edition" <http://www.livewarepub.com/version_81SQL.htm> consulted on 26 October 2000. Information on SQL Server 6.5 was taken from the Microsoft website, "Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Requirements" <http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=152&subid=22&pg=3> consulted on 26 October 2000.

9. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/36/DD/1/2/1, pp. 5, 12, 17, 22; email of 22 March 2000 from NDAD to the DfEE; compliments slip accompanying floppy disk received from the DfEE on 27 March 2000.

10. Notes of telephone conversation between NDAD and the DfEE on 13 October 2000. On Electoral Reform (Ballot Services) Ltd, see Hansard Volume (House of Commons Debates), Written Answers to Questions, Friday 21 January 1994, col 858: on-line copy <http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-01-21/Writtens-2.html> consulted on 26 October 2000.