How to Set Up A Free School

By Toby Young

In 2011, following the extremely arduous task of founding a free school in the face of political controversy, fierce criticism and, he admits, inexperience, Toby Young’s West London Free School opened in Hammersmith.

Offering a classical liberal education, it was the first of its kind in England to sign the Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State for Education. The school has since received a glowing report from Ofsted in 2015 and has been placed in the top five per cent of mixed comprehensives in England, following the publication of its first GCSE results in 2016.

In the few years that have passed since the West London Free School opened its doors, there has been a proliferation of free schools across the country that has seen the number jump from just 24 to well over three-hundred, with many more preparing to open soon.

But the path to this success was not easy. Now Toby Young is here to offer some reflections and guidance for those who are looking to join the free school crusade.

Toby Young is a journalist and author. He has written columns for the Evening Standard and The Independent on Sunday, appeared frequently in The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail, and is currently an associate-editor of The Spectator. Young’s bestselling memoir of his time spent writing for Vanity Fair in New York, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, was adapted into a West End play as well as a film starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox and Jeff Bridges. Since January 2017, Young has also become the Director of the New Schools Network, a charity that helps the foundation of free schools, having previously co-founded several in London himself – including the West London Free School.