The Swanage School

The Swanage School is a locally accountable free school run along cooperative principles.
Education Swanage, in seeking to establish a free school, have always aimed to make the established Trust as open and transparent as possible. We believe that this increases the school's resilience and long-term sustainability because it genuinely represents the needs of the community while maintaining a culture of ambition and constant improvement.

Cooperative schools seek to involve as many sectors of the community as possible in decision making through a wholly accountable and democratic governance structure. It has long been proven that schools which involve parents and the wider community wherever possible achieve higher levels of attainment.

By inviting parents, staff and the wider community to actively participate in the governance of the school through membership of the Trust and through Parent, Staff and Community Forums, and by genuinely listening to the student voice through a Student Council, The Swanage School sits genuinely at heart of the local community.