[13] Established from already existing secondary schools, they would raise and receive £100,000 through sponsorship, benefit from an extra £100 per pupil every year and specialise in mathematics, technology and science.

[19] It managed and delivered the programme on the Department's behalf,[20][21][22] receiving funds from it to help schools raise the required sponsorship for specialist designation.

[34] With the first designations, Education Secretary John Patten announced plans to introduce more specialist schools in art, sport, music, language and business.

[16] Officially, participation was restricted to voluntary aided and grant-maintained schools because of their favourable administrative style, which included provisions for sponsor governors.

[43] Although, much of its membership opposed the programme in 1993 and 1994, some leading figures began expressing support once schools under local government control were allowed to participate.

[10] This was reiterated at the 1996 Labour Party Conference held in September and October, where it was announced that the programme would be supported as long as all state schools were allowed to participate.

This, alongside Blair's good impression of Carmel RC Technology College, led to the implementation of the programme's expansion as Labour policy.

Sources from the party said this local support would invalidate the controversy surrounding specialist schools' right to a partially selective intake and promised that this right would be maintained.

[53][54][55] The programme became one of the New Labour government's flagship policies[56][57][58][59] and Tony Blair, who was now prime minister, aimed to have another 450 specialist schools designated by the end of his first parliamentary session.

[102] At this time, in a bid to increase parental choice, Conservative Shadow Education Secretary Tim Yeo planned to expand the specialist schools programme by implementing within it a "pupil passport scheme".

Other policies that would be part of the scheme included the introduction of academy status grammar schools and individualised student funding that would follow them throughout their education.

[119] On 27 June 2007, Tony Blair officially resigned as prime minister after ten years in office, being succeeded by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

Some were already established shortly before the white paper was published, with a number of schools hosting relocated specialist child health clinics, youth centres and sports facilities.

[2] The Great Recession damaged the political reputation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and it was growing increasingly unlikely that Labour would win the May 2010 general election.

Gove wanted to reform the education system by implementing changes that followed a "radical form of Blairism" and abandoned the party's previous policy of expanding selection in favour of academisation.

Taylor and Gove attended a luncheon hosted by the Conservative Carlton Club, in which they and 15 other sponsors and supporters of the specialist schools and academies programmes conversed.

[129][130] In the run-up to the review, Labour politicians claimed to have leaked government plans to scrap Sports Colleges and their associated specialist funding in favour of academic subjects.

[1] The Northern Irish variant of the programme ended in August 2011, having been scheduled to do so in an announcement by Sinn Féin education minister Caitriona Ruane in April 2009.

[135][136] However, the DENI could not afford to continue the model due to budget restrictions and therefore decided to instead "identify ways in which the excellent practice and partnership working demonstrated within so many specialist schools can be shared more widely".

[126][140] In Northern Ireland for example, the Assumption and St Louis grammar schools continue to maintain their specialist status in music and technology,[141][142] having both been designated with these specialisms in September 2009.

[119] From 2020, some free schools were opened with specialist Maths or Science College status under Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's COVID-19 recovery plan.

[162] To apply for specialist designation, secondary schools had to demonstrate reasonable standards of achievement, and produce a three-year development plan with quantified targets related to learning outcomes.

[164][173][11] Schools that made a good attempt at achieving their targets over the four-year development plan period normally had their grants renewed at three-year intervals with no further need to raise sponsorship.

However, since 2008, the government sought to encourage long-term relationships with business partners by offering a matching grant to re-designating specialist schools that were able to raise a further £25,000 in private sponsorship.

[179] From 1 April 2010, control over English specialist designations and re-designations were transferred from the DCSF to local authorities and School Improvement Partners (SIPs).

[183] David Jesson of the University of York published a series of annual studies of the results of the specialist schools programme, on behalf of the SSAT.

[11] Other studies found that specialist schools performed slightly better at GCSE, particularly benefitting more able pupils and narrowing the gap between boys and girls.

[204] In 2003, the Education & Skills Select Committee, whose membership was mostly made of Labour MPs, found no evidence for the programme's success at raising standards.

"[205] The 2004–2005 Education and Skills Select Committee found that the cause of the programme's success was unclear and that its aim of boosting diversity had no evident reason for support.

[207] Conservative member Nick Gibb stated in November 2007 that instead of the specialist schools programme, "The key to improvement is a focus on tried and tested approaches to education.