Estelle throws a lifeline to the strugglers

23rd November 2001, 12:00am

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Estelle throws a lifeline to the strugglers

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/estelle-throws-lifeline-strugglers
Improve or we’ll shut you down, Blunkett told those at the foot of the tables - but, under his successor, their survival prospects look much brighter. Julie Henry and Karen Thornton report

EDUCATION Secretary Estelle Morris appears to be softening the “improve or close” policy of her predecessor that has left 76 schools facing an uncertain future.

As the Government celebrates the news that half of all pupils have gained five good GCSE passes - hitting its target a year early - the clock is supposedly ticking for dozens of secondaries struggling to escape from the bottom of the league tables.

These are the ones where less than 15 per cent of pupils got five GCSE grade Cs or better - the minimum set by former Education Secretary David Blunkett; 46 of the 76 actually got worse results than last year. A further 21 schools not on the list are on the borderline, scoring exactly 15 per cent. In 2000, 101 schools failed to reach the 15 per cent mark.

Mr Blunkett said schools must ensure they met the milestone by 2003, or face being shut down completely or closed and re-opened under the Fresh Start scheme. The minimum target rises to 20 per cent in 2004 and 25 per cent in 2006.

Teachers’ unions and heads’ associations have attacked the goals as a kick in the teeth for struggling schools.

But there are signs that Ms Morris has softened this rigid stance. Under her leadership, Fresh Start - where a school closes and reopens with a new name and staff - is no longer regarded as a quick fix. A number of the 76 schools are themselves Fresh Starts or newly-opened. Others have taken pupils from poorly-performing schools that have already been closed.

Department for Education and Skills officials are now pushing the White Paper solutions of partnerships between good and poorly- performing schools or private-company takeovers as alternatives to Fresh Start.

Rather than any rigid rule, the verdict of inspectors could be the deciding factor in school closures. Only eight of the 76 schools are in special measures. Some of the schools have actually been praised by inspectors, such as Copperfields college in Leeds (see table, right).

A DFES spokeman said: “We’ve worked hard to reduce the number (with an A*-C score under 15 per cent) by 25 per cent from last year. We work closely with each school to reach the target. Some schools work in challenging circumstances and extra support will help them improve.”

This year Ramsgate school, Kent, and William Crane school, Nottingham, shared the bottom league-table spot with a five-A*-to-C score of 4 per cent . Gwen Porteous, head at Ramsgate school, said: “We are in an area with three grammars, two church schools and a technology college. They all cream off and we have the rest.

“We are hoping to get there within the timescale. But what happens if we don’t? The Government can’t close 76 schools.”

Ms Morris has admitted that the gap between working and middle-class pupils is still too wide. This year 5.5 per cent of pupils - some 25,000 teenagers - left school without a single GCSE.

She said she was “horrified” by figures linking social class and exam attainment. These showed only a third of students with unskilled parents get five good GCSEs, compared with two-thirds of middle-class children.

The gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement is also as wide as ever. Provisional figures published this summer covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed boys had narrowed the gulf slightly. However, official statistics show the gap between the proportion of boys and girls getting five good GCSEs has remained steady at 10.6 percentage points. The percentage of boys getting five Gs or better actually fell slightly this year - from 87 to 86.8.

Schools’ efforts to tackle boys’ underachievement - including single-sex classes, challenging “laddish” behaviour, male mentors and boy-friendly teaching methods - have failed to have a major impact.

Schools in Excellence in Cities areas continued to show faster than average improvements. Specialist schools also improved at a faster rate than other schools and performed at a high level generally.

Thomas Telford school achieved a clean sweep yet again. All its students gained at least nine good grades, albeit with the help of an intermediate GNVQ which counts as four GCSEs. Without this extra vocational qualification, which many schools use to boost their league table position, its five-A*-C score would be under 90 per cent.

* A survey of 244 of the lowest performing schools in England claims the “forgotten schools” have been abandoned by the Government.

The study by the Liberal Democrats found the “failing” schools - those where less than 20 per cent of pupils got five A*-C grades last year - were in deprived areas with three times more pupils on free school meals than average.

They had a higher turnover of staff and were coping with twice as many children with special needs.

The report blamed admissions policies that allow some secondaries to cream off pupils, leaving struggling schools with their “cast-offs”. In Kent, for instance, there are 28 schools in challenging circumstances and 33 selective grammar schools.

One of the 75 heads who responded to the survey said: “The most damaging thing was the Government announcement indicating closure if 15, 20 and 25 per cent targets are not met. This was taken locally as a certain outcome and did us great harm. In March 2001 we were granted an achievement award and inspectors gave us good reports. Where is the sense here?” Almost half the struggling schools that returned the questionnaire were run by heads who had been appointed in 2000 or 2001.

Truancy rates were three times the national average and the schools had 50 per cent more authorised absences than average.

The survey also found it was harder for underachieving schools to get specialist status. Only 3.7 per cent were specialist, compared to 17 per cent nationally.

Phil Willis, Lib Dem education spokesman, said: “Labelling a school as failing is a barrier to success. They are stigmatised and head teachers say they find it harder to fill places. Measuring these schools simply on GCSE results creates almost impossible targets.”

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