Guidance

Submit a school land transaction proposal

Find out when you'll need to involve the Secretary of State for Education and which forms you'll need to submit.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 10 February 2021
• Last updated: 2 December 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

What you’ll need to do

This section explains which parts of the guidance you’ll need to read and how to make an application or notify the Secretary of State.

For some land transactions, you’ll need to obtain the Secretary of State’s prior consent or give notice to the Secretary of State. In other cases, a General Consent Order (GCO) may apply to the proposed land transaction.

School land transactions: guidance (PDF, 469 KB, 72 pages)

1. Use part 1 to find out whether you need to involve the Secretary of State.

2. Use part 2 to find out about the assessment criteria used for different types of land transactions and the specific information and evidence required to be provided with your application.

3. Use part 3 to find out about playing field land, including what is classified as playing field land, how to provide your playing field statistics and information about the role of the playing field panel.

4. Use part 4 to read about which land transactions are covered by the General Consent Orders (GCOs).

5. Use part 5 to find out how to submit your application for consent or notify the Secretary of State.

6. Use part 6 to read about academy conversions, statutory transfers for voluntary and foundation schools, transfers of land from one academy trust to another academy trust and orders made under section 554 of the Education Act 1996 - see the guidance on section 554 orders.

Apply for school land transactions

Use the following forms to make your land transaction application.

• Form A - Disposals of non-playing field land
• Form B - Disposals of or including playing field land
• Form C - Disposals of non-playing field land at operating schools which require notification under Schedule 22 only (MS Word Document, 137 KB)
• Form D - Granting an easement of playing field or non-playing field land (MS Word Document, 140 KB)
• Form E - Granting a lease or disposing of land for solar panels (MS Word Document, 150 KB)
• Form F - Granting a telecommunications lease (MS Word Document, 103 KB)
• Form G - Applications to enter into joint use agreements (MS Word Document, 143 KB)
• Form H - Change of use of playing field land (MS Word Document, 146 KB)
• Form I - Change of use of school land for non-educational purposes (MS Word Document, 141 KB)
• Form J - Acquisitions
• Form K - Any other application under an academy trust's funding agreement (MS Word Document, 138 KB)
• Form L - Appropriation of school land by a local authority (MS Word Document, 91.1 KB)
• Form M - Academy land transfers (MS Word Document, 84 KB)
• Form N - Disposal of school land for a school-based nursery (MS Word Document, 57.3 KB)

Nurseries

Following the department’s announcement about funding for schools to create nurseries in existing primary school premises and updates to guidance on establishing school-based nursery provision, a consent process for land transactions relating to nurseries and childcare is now available.

There is a General Consent Order (GCO) and notification form applicable to:

• local authorities
• governing bodies of maintained schools and foundation bodies
• the trustees of a foundation, voluntary, or foundation special schools for specific nursery related land transactions

There is also a short application form for nursery and childcare related land transactions where the GCO does not apply.

General Consent Orders (GCO)

The Secretary of State has agreed that some types of disposal fall within the type where they would routinely expect to grant consent. Accordingly, they have agreed General Consent Orders (GCOs) that provide a blanket consent in these cases.

• The School Land General Disposal and Change of Use (Childcare) Class Consent 2024 (PDF, 150 KB, 3 pages)
• The School Land General Disposal and Change of Use (Childcare) Class Consent 2024 - notification form (MS Word Document, 62.9 KB)
• General Consent Order (GCO): The School Playing Fields General Disposal and Change of Use Class Consent (No 7) 2023 (PDF, 145 KB, 6 pages)
• General Consent Order (GCO): The Academies General Disposal and Appropriation Class Consent (No 4) 2023 (PDF, 166 KB, 5 pages)
• General Consent Order (GCO): Temporary school land and playing fields (PDF, 161 KB, 6 pages)
• General Consent Order (GCO): Disposal of school playing fields by restriction (PDF, 90.1 KB, 2 pages)
• General Consent Order (GCO) Section 77 School Standards and Frameworks Act 1998 - notification form (MS Word Document, 87.9 KB)
• General Consent Order (GCO): Schedule 1 Academies Act 2010 - notification form (MS Word Document, 97.2 KB)

Contact

Email land.transactions@education.gov.uk if you have any questions about:

• land transactions
• the main guidance
• the forms
• GCOs

Decisions on the disposal of school land

A summary of decisions about the disposal of school land since May 2010 is available.

Feedback

You can take a 2-minute survey and provide the Department for Education (DfE) with feedback on the guidance and application forms. DfE will consider your feedback when making decisions about future updates to the guidance and application forms.

Take the survey.

Published 10 February 2021
Last updated 2 December 2024 + show all updates

1. 2 December 2024

   Added a new section on 'Nurseries'. Also added 3 new documents: ‘The School Land General Disposal and Change of Use (Childcare) Class Consent 2024', ‘General Consent Order (GCO): School Based Nursery - notification form’ and ‘Form N – Disposals of school land for a school-based nursery provision’.

2. 27 November 2024

   Updated the page to remove out of date content. Also updated the 'School land transactions: guidance' to confirm that Forms A, B and J should now be completed through the Land transaction portal. Added the link to the Land transaction portal.

3. 17 May 2023

   The 'General Consent Order (GCO): The School Playing Fields General Disposal and Change of Use Class Consent', 'General Consent Order (GCO): The Academies General Disposal and Appropriation Class Consent', 'General Consent Order (GCO): Schedule 1 Academies Act 2010 - notification form' and 'General Consent Order (GCO) Section 77 School Standards and Frameworks Act 1998 - notification form' have been updated for 2023.

4. 23 August 2022

   Added 'The School Playing Fields General Disposal and Change of Use Class Consent (No 6) 2022' and 'The Academies General Disposal and Appropriation Class Consent (No 3) 2022' which replace the 'School Playing Fields General Disposal and Change of Use Consent (No 5) 2014’ and the ‘Academies General Disposal and Appropriation Consent (No 2) 2012' respectively. Also updated 2 more forms under ‘General Consent Orders’: ‘Section 77 School Standards and Frameworks Act 1998 – notification form’ and ‘Schedule 1 Academies Act 2010 – notification form’.

5. 8 June 2022

   Added 'Decisions on the disposal of school land'.

6. 28 September 2021

   Updated the 'School land transactions: guidance' and forms A to L.

7. 10 February 2021

   First published.