Grant-maintained school

Grant-maintained schools (or GM schools) were state schools in England and Wales which, between 1988 and 1998, withdrew from local education authority (LEA) control and were instead funded directly by a grant from central government. A number of them operated selective or partially selective admissions.

The status was introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988 as part of a wider Conservative government programme intended to widen the range of educational provision and to reduce the influence of local education authorities. In place for a decade, grant-maintained status was abolished by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Although its supporters pointed to the schools' examination results, later analysis suggested that any apparent advantage owed more to their intakes than to the status itself. It is now chiefly remembered both as a vehicle through which some schools moved towards academic selection, and as the direct forerunner of the modern academy system, with which it shares much of its design.