Summary

From 1 September 2005 Schools Causing Concern (SCC) are those that are judged by Ofsted to:

• require special measures or
• require significant improvement

New Guidance

Revised statutory guidance for Schools Causing Concern was published on 16 May 2007. It related to the provisions in Part 4 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and explains the statutory powers and responsibilities and provides advice on how local authorities and schools might work together to prevent and address school failure.

Part 4 of the Act builds upon existing statutory powers and good practice by:

• Promoting earlier action to tackle school underperformance
• Ensuring that effective support and challenge is provided immediately when unacceptable standards are identified and
• Securing decisive action if a school in Special Measures fails to make sufficient improvement

A revised version of the guidance was published in September 2008. This includes some minor corrections and changes such as the coming into being of the new department for children, schools and families and references to policies which are no longer new. Some links to other sites have been updated and some further advice on procedures following the issuing of warning notices by LAs has been included. Download the amended guidance from the link below.
Amended Statutory Guidance for Schools Causing Concern ( 691 Kb)

Support for Schools Causing Concern

In addition to regular visits from Ofsted, the School Improvement and Targets Team monitors schools causing concern and will provide challenge and support to local authorities. Working through the National Strategies it ensures that satisfactory progress is being made in each school and that pupils are disadvantaged for the shortest possible time. In some cases, a tailored intervention package is agreed, usually to strengthen the leadership of a school and to provide extra support for teaching and learning. For serious cases there may be a federation with a stronger school or the appointment of an Interim Executive Board to replace a governing body. School Improvement Partnership Boards have been set up in some local authorities to oversee school improvement in one or more schools. In some cases a failing school may be replaced by an academy.

National Strategies

The support the School Improvement and Targets Team provides to schools and local authorities complements the work of the Strategies and many of their programmes may be suitable for schools causing concern. For more details on the Strategies, please follow the links below to their web sites.

Achievements

Government policies to tackle school failure have been steadily successful. Since 1997, over 1,500 schools, which required special measures, have been successfully turned round and almost 300 have been closed. Fifty-seven schools closed have been given a Fresh Start with a new school opening on the same site.

At the end of the 1997/98 academic year there were 515 schools in special measures but this figure had fallen to 193 at the end of August 2009.

Related Links

National Strategies

Updated 23 December 2009

Published 01 February 2004