Clarke kills off 'one size fits all' school

The final nail was today driven into the coffin of the "bog standard" comprehensive school.

The "one size fits all" system created 30 years ago as the centrepiece of an egalitarian dream was laid to rest by the Government in a five-year plan for the future of secondary education.

In its place, Education Secretary Charles Clarke outlined a system of "independent specialist schools" free to control their budgets and tailor lessons to pupil needs.

Those that succeed will be able to expand to take on new pupils. Those that fail are likely to be replaced by new city academies - 200 by 2010 - funded directly from Whitehall and supported by millions in business sponsorship.

Ditching the "traditional comprehensive" is hailed as a "decisive-system-wide advance" in the Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners published today.

But it represents a tacit acknowledgement of how little Labour has so far improved secondary schools, its key secondterm objective.

Today's launch comes only a day after Tony Blair acknowledged that its drive to improve primary schools had also been only a limited success.

The new plan encourages every secondary school to become an "independent" foundation school. The majority of secondaries would be able to control their own admissions and appoint most of their own governors.