Michael Gove is set to say there is no excuse for failure in primary schools Two hundred of England’s worst-performing primary schools will be closed next year and re-opened as academies, the government is to say.
Education Secretary Michael Gove says this will force schools which have failed to get their pupils to expected levels in maths and English to improve.
The new academies, taken out of local authority control, will be run by more successful local schools.
Another 500 will be told they have three years to improve their standards.
On Wednesday it was revealed Mr Gove wants secondary schools to secure five good GCSEs for at least 50% of pupils.
At present a school is assessed as under-performing if fewer than 35% of pupils get five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including maths and English.
In an address to the annual conference of the National College for School Leadership in Birmingham, Mr Gove is expected to say there is no excuse for failure.
The poorest-performing 200 schools will include those which have failed for five years to meet targets for 11-year-olds in maths and English.
Mr Gove told the BBC it was time to turn the focus on primary schools.
“We can’t have a situation where young children are arriving at the age of 11 at secondary schools not secure in English and mathematics.
“That’s why we need rapid action to deal with the very worst primary schools.”
He said academy status was “a tried and tested way” of getting the right head teacher in place to turn a school around.
“What we’re seeing through the academy movement is a grassroots change in the way that education is operating in this country – heads are in charge not politicians.”
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “If a school makes great progress with pupils from low starting points, it should be feted, not condemned,” he said.
“But, yes, if a school remains far below the floor standards for years, with no sign of improvement, and if it has had good quality support, then of course we need a radical solution.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.