Crackdown on 'coasting' schools

Ministers want to stop "coasting" schools sliding into failure

Hundreds of schools in England which are considered to be "coasting" are facing a government crackdown.

Education ministers have written to local authorities, encouraging them to issue warning notices to schools at risk of failing their inspections.

Councils are also urged to sack the governing bodies of struggling schools and replace them with interim boards.

New powers granted to councils mean they can force schools to link up with outside partners to improve standards.

The new powers, which came into force on 1 April, allow local education authorities to intervene in schools at risk of failure.

Local authorities have a responsibility to act quickly to turn around failure Schools Minister Andrew Adonis

In a letter to education authorities Schools Minister Andrew Adonis said: "We must work even harder to ensure that we stop children having to spend a long time in an inadequate school.

"The new Education and Inspections Act 2006, which has come into force, requires local authorities to act quickly on early intelligence of potential major problems.

"It is no good waiting for the patient to end up on the critical list when you can prescribe preventative medicine early on.

"While the best cure is prevention, local authorities have a responsibility to act quickly to turn around failure to reduce to a minimum the time a child has to suffer poor teaching which can severely hurt their progress.

"Local authorities should also take action against coasting schools - it is not good enough for schools to let down pupils who should be doing much better when you compare them to similar pupils in other schools."