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Improve or your school may be closed
13/ 6/2008
TWO Hyndburn high schools have been told they could face closure if their exam results don’t improve.
The threat comes from the Government as part of a £4M plan to improve educational standards.
The warning has been issued to Accrington’s Moorhead Sports College and Rhyddings Business and Enterprise College in Oswaldtwistle.
Ministers compiled a hit-list of 638 "failing schools" across the country which have less than 30 per cent of pupils achieving at least five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths.
Moorhead and Rhyddings both scored only 24 per cent.
Moorhead headteacher Andrew Bateman said: "I think this is a very strange list for the Government to release when it has just sent me a letter congratulating us on our progress.
"The list suggests that all pupils start school at the same level which everybody knows is not true. Moorhead is in the top three per cent in the country for adding value to student learning.
"I think this list is an injustice to students and staff who worked hard to gain these results."
The Government predicts that about a third of the 638 schools will not improve enough within the stipulated three years and face being closed down or replaced with academies.
Barry Burke, head of Rhyddings, said: "Just like Moorhead, we have been named in the top five per cent of schools in the country for adding value to student learning.
"We often receive letters from Government minister Jim Knight, who has taken notice of the improvements in our school. But his view is clearly not shared by the entire Government.
"Schools like mine, have to battle against ministers like Lord Adonis who do not rate the ‘value added’ figures as a method of improvement. This can be very confusing for a school when we have a Government which says one thing and does another.
"I think this list is a knee-jerk reaction by a Government losing its direction."
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18/06/2008 at 00:23