Education

This theme includes a very broad group of sites with a common high-level primary function of providing education (either state-funded or fee-paying).

OS MasterMap Sites Layer (purple polygon) Education theme – primary school

Main function	Functional site attribution	Description
Further education	Further education	An educational site for academic and vocational qualifications below degree level.
Higher education	Higher or university education	A feature where students study at National Qualifications Framework level 4 and above.
University	Higher or university education	An institution of higher education.
Non state primary or preparatory school	Non state primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of seven to eleven that is not funded by the state.
Non state secondary school	Non state secondary education	An educational establishment for children of eleven years and over that is not funded by the state.
First school	Primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of four to eight.
Infant school	Primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of five to seven.
Junior school	Primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of seven to eleven.
Middle school	Primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of eight to twelve or nine to thirteen.
Primary school	Primary education	An educational establishment for children from the ages of seven to eleven that is funded principally by the state.
Secondary school	Secondary education	Educational establishment for children over 11 years old.
Special needs education	Special needs education	A specialist school for the teaching of those with disabilities.

The table above shows how the main function of a site has been mapped across to the equivalent functional site attribution, for example, a first school will be attributed as ‘primary education’.

Where a school is described with one or more functions and it is not possible to ascertain which buildings relate to which function, the entire site will be captured once for each function present. There will also be instances where there are several functions associated to a single site.

In some cases, it may be possible to determine which buildings are related to the different functional sites, but not possible to divide the playing fields; as a result, the playing fields will be captured for each function and will overlap.

The following features are included in the captured extent:

• All teaching and assembly buildings supporting education functions.

• Ancillary buildings and structures directly enabling the site to operate (for example, boiler house, kitchens and waste disposal areas).

• Site access roads and paths.

• Recreational areas associated with the site (for example, playgrounds and playing fields).

• Areas of man-made and natural surface totally surrounded by included areas.

• For schools: areas of man-made and natural surface abutting included areas along a non-obstructing edge.

The following features are not included in the captured extent:

• Public roads and pavements.

• Pedestrian through-routes.

• Separately addressed properties as indicated by house numbers.

Universities or higher education sites that have extensive and regionally disparate sites will be associated together using the stakeholder attribute, to specify a relationship between such sites that come under the control of a single stakeholder. This attribute is currently not populated but will be implemented in subsequent releases of the product.

Sites associated with professional bodies or work places will not be captured, for example, ‘Dance School’ or ‘Performing Arts School’.