70 failing schools to be turned into academies

UP TO 70 failing schools on a government hit list will be shut and turned into privately-backed academies within two years.

Schools minister Jim Knight has promised to "accelerate and extend" the programme, despite opposition from teachers and Left-wing Labour MPs. The Treasury is said to have approved plans to close 70 comprehensives that fail to meet key GCSE targets.

The decision follows GCSE results showing that the semi-independent academies were improving faster than other schools, although grades are still much lower than the national average. The expansion of academies will be seen as a surprise after Lord Adonis, the architect of the scheme, was moved from his job as a schools minister.

Many saw the reshuffle as evidence that the Prime Minister's commitment to academies was waning. Mr Knight hailed yesterday's GCSE figures, which showed that the number of pupils in academies scoring five A*-C grades including maths and English, rose by nearly three per cent this year.

At 28.1 per cent, the figure is still far lower than the national average of 47.2 per cent. But the Government stressed that academies were set up in the toughest areas of England in an attempt to transform standards with the aid of the private sector.

Mr Knight said academies had made "remarkable progress". "Academies are continuing to achieve big year-on-year increases over and above the national average," he said. "The future looks bright in the relatively short time they have been operating.

"Academies are giving new opportunities to children in disadvantaged communities that have been let down educationally for generations that's why we will continue to accelerate and extend the programme."

Last year the Prime Minister warned 638 schools that they must improve or face closure. Under a new target, ministers have promised to make sure no school has fewer than 30 per cent of pupils achieving five C grades, including maths and English, by 2011.

The number of schools on the hit list because they missed this target had fallen from 638 to 475 this year, Mr Knight told The Independent. The minister said there was no reason why a similar fall would not occur next year.

The paper reported that another 70 trust schools would be created alongside the academies. These would be put into partnerships with nearby successful schools and would effectively be run by them.

The brainchild of Lord Adonis, academies were set up under Tony Blair as a radical solution to the problems of inner-city education.

But teachers' leaders and many Labour MPs oppose the scheme as the "part-privatisation" of state schools.

Campaigners have mounted court action in an attempt to derail individual projects. Many object to church groups and business leaders taking over the running of state comprehensives.