A quarter of secondary schools 'are failing'

A quarter of England’s secondary schools are letting their pupils down, education minister Lord Adonis admitted yesterday.

Lord Adonis Lord Adonis

He condemned the “waste of talent” represented by the failure of some 800 secondaries to make sure their pupils master basic English and maths.

Parents and the Government “rightly expect better”, he said.

In a speech to the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference of leading private schools, Lord Adonis said standards of state education had improved significantly in the past 10 years.

“But it is still the case that in some 800 secondary schools, fewer than 30% of 16 year-olds achieve five or more good GCSEs including English and maths,” the minister said.

“The waste of talent and potential this represents simply isn’t acceptable for the future.

“Parents rightly expect better, and so must we as educators and Government.”

Standards are improving in many of these 800 schools, which represent 24% of the total number in England.

“But many are not - or are not improving fast enough to give local authorities or parents confidence that they will become good schools within a reasonable period.

“For many of these schools, the essential deficit is one of governance, leadership, ethos and vision taken together - all of the underpinning foundations of a good school which, together, enable it to succeed.”

With this in mind, ministers developed the academies programme, where private sponsors take over and set up an entirely new school, he said.

The Government wants to establish 400 academies.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, dismissed the minister’s suggestion that all 800 of these secondaries were letting pupils down.

The Government has set targets for schools to make sure their pupils achieve five C grades in any subjects at GCSE.

But the target has now changed so the five subjects must include English and maths, in a drive to raise standards of basic literacy and numeracy.

Dr Dunford said that schools were having to change their teaching priorities as a result to focus on maths and English.

“But it is quite wrong to say that all those 800 schools are giving a bad education to their children,” he said. “That is patently untrue.

"Many of these schools serve extremely challenging communities and many children who are new to this country.”

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