Department for Education
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Tough new guidelines to tackle weak and failing schools launched today

Tough new guidelines to tackle weak and failing schools launched today

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS News Release (2007/0081) issued by The Government News Network on 16 May 2007

Schools Minister Andrew Adonis today launched tough new guidelines to ensure effective and early action is taken to improve weak and failing schools.

It makes clear to both local authorities and schools that the Government will not tolerate schools being allowed to slide into failure or drift into mediocrity.

Andrew Adonis said:

"This guidance to local authorities makes plain that we will not accept parents and children having to put up with second-class education in struggling and poor schools.

"Thanks to our reforms local authorities now have stronger powers than ever to intervene and take action to reduce the time children spend in an inadequate school to the minimum.

"I expect them to use these powers. The vast majority of local authorities care deeply about the education of children in their areas.

"We must have early intervention to rapidly turn around a weak school rather than wait for it to deteriorate further and fall into special measures - prevention is better than cure for all concerned.

"This guidance explains how local authorities can be more vigilant in making sure schools do not fail their Ofsted inspections, with new powers to warn those who ignore obvious danger signals

"We want to turn round poor schools more quickly and challenge those that are clearly coasting as soon as possible to make sure they do not decline into full failure.
"Where a school gets stuck in special measures - making no progress whatsoever after about a year - then we will need to look very carefully at whether it should stay open. It may be better to close the school and look for new arrangements such as an Academy - or to hold a competition for a new body to run the school.

"The numbers of schools placed in special measures - representing the poorest possible Ofsted inspection result - has reduced by about half since 1998. I am pleased with that result, but not complacent. Our aim is to make special measures a very rare event and to make every complacent school a good school."

The full statutory guidance on Schools Causing Concern is published on the DfES website today. It provides full details on the use of new local authority powers which will help them turn schools around more quickly. In addition, authorities will be able formally to warn schools where there are clear indications they can do better and there is a danger of Ofsted failure.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The statutory guidance is available on the DfES website at:

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/sie/si/SCC/news/2007guide

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