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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