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Documentation Technical documentation for the Get Information about Schools service.

Organisation Group Classifications

This page explains classification tables used to describe education provider groups, group links, federations, trust-school indicators and independent-school proprietor types.

Scope

This model covers:

  • group type classification;
  • group-to-group relationship classification;
  • establishment-to-group link classification where visible;
  • federation and trust-school classification;
  • independent-school proprietor type.

How To Read This Model

  • EstablishmentGroupType classifies the type of group or organisation.
  • GroupLinkType classifies relationships between groups.
  • TrustSchool is an establishment-level classification, not a trust organisation.
  • Some legacy federation and sponsor tables are present but inactive and have been omitted from the public diagrams.

Application-Derived Insights

  • Group classification is separate from establishment type classification.
  • The model contains both current group/trust structures and older federation support.
  • Some link-type values are stored as plain fields without visible foreign-key enforcement.
  • Future modelling should use business terms for provider organisations rather than carrying every legacy code-list name forward.

Establishment Group Classification

erDiagram EstablishmentGroup { numeric id PK nvarchar name nvarchar type_code FK nvarchar groupId nvarchar companiesHouseNumber numeric UKPRN datetime openDate datetime closedDate tinyint createdInError } EstablishmentGroupType { nvarchar code PK nvarchar name tinyint archived int id } GroupLink { numeric id PK numeric urn FK numeric group_id FK nvarchar linkType nvarchar ccLinkType datetime effectiveDate tinyint archived } GroupRelationsLink { numeric id PK numeric linking_group FK numeric linked_group FK nvarchar type_code FK datetime establishedDate datetime systemLinkDate } GroupLinkType { nvarchar code PK nvarchar name tinyint archived int id } EstablishmentGroupType ||--o{ EstablishmentGroup : classifies_group EstablishmentGroup ||--o{ GroupLink : establishment_group_membership EstablishmentGroup ||--o{ GroupRelationsLink : linking_group EstablishmentGroup ||--o{ GroupRelationsLink : linked_group GroupLinkType ||--o{ GroupRelationsLink : classifies_group_relation

EstablishmentGroupType

Business-friendly pattern:

For this education provider group,
what kind of group is it?

Examples include trust, multi-academy trust, single-academy trust, federation, school sponsor and children’s-centre group.

GroupLinkType

Business-friendly pattern:

For this relationship between two groups,
what kind of relationship is being recorded?

GroupLink.linkType and GroupLink.ccLinkType are classification-like fields, but they are not shown as enforced lookup relationships here.

Federation, Trust And Proprietor Classification

erDiagram Establishment { numeric URN PK nvarchar EstablishmentName nvarchar trustSchool_code FK } TrustSchool { nvarchar code PK nvarchar name tinyint archived int id } EstablishmentToFederation { numeric URN PK nvarchar federationCode PK } Federation { nvarchar code PK nvarchar name tinyint archived int id } IndependentSchools { numeric URN PK nvarchar proprietorType_code FK } ProprietorType { nvarchar code PK nvarchar name int orderBy tinyint archived int id } TrustSchool ||--o{ Establishment : trust_school_classification Establishment ||--o{ EstablishmentToFederation : federation_link Federation ||--o{ EstablishmentToFederation : federation_code ProprietorType ||--o{ IndependentSchools : proprietor_type

TrustSchool

Business-friendly pattern:

For this establishment,
is it classified as a trust school?

This is not the same as modelling a trust as an organisation.

Federation

Business-friendly pattern:

For this establishment,
which federation code is it linked to?

ProprietorType

Business-friendly pattern:

For this independent-school record,
what kind of proprietor is recorded?

FederationType, FederationFlag and SchoolSponsorFlag have been omitted because they are marked as having no observed production read or write activity in the 30-day table-usage evidence.

Reading This Diagram

Use this model to separate three ideas: the type of a provider group, the relationship between groups, and establishment-level flags that describe trust or federation context. These are adjacent, but they are not one single classification.