Ministers plan to bring in a new definition of “coasting schools” in order to move them into multi-academy trusts (MATs), a new consultation published today shows.
The government plans to create new regulations that would cover schools rated as “requires improvement” in their most recent Ofsted inspection and were judged to be less than “good” in the inspection before that.
The Department for Education intends to introduce the measure for schools it describes as “not making necessary improvements” in September 2022.
It would mean maintained schools in this position could be faced with being converted into an academy while academies could be moved into an MAT.
The government says this will apply to 4.2 per cent of state-funded schools in England and 5.7 per cent of schools in Education Investment Areas (EIAs).
However this will not be automatic and will be considered on a case-by-case basis using “inspection evidence” and performance data, the consultation says.
The government said that more than 400,000 children are currently attending a school that is “not making necessary improvements”, with around 150,000 primary pupils and 250,000 secondary students attending these schools.
This consultation says it is seeking views on the plans to use the secretary of state’s intervention powers to ensure that schools “that are not making necessary improvements benefit from the support of academy trusts with the capacity to drive sustained school improvement”.
The move comes as the government pledged a target of 90 per cent of pupils achieving literacy and numeracy targets by 2030 last month.
The DfE has said that while the initial proposals will focus on schools in the EIAs, regional directors (RDs, formerly known as regional schools commissioners) could also consider intervention in schools outside the EIAs.
Building on this, the DfE also said that “regardless of geographical location”, RDs will “hold schools to account for their performance” and will take “intervention action” in schools judged “inadequate” by Ofsted “or where governance, safeguarding or financial failures are identified”.
The consultation states that the department believes a “more ambitious approach” is needed to support schools that are failing to improve after receiving a “requires improvement” judgement.
Who will be affected?
The new measure will apply to mainstream local authority-maintained primary, middle and secondary schools, as well as academies (excluding 16-19 academies).
Special schools and alternative provision (AP) settings will also be included as the DfE believes these schools “should be held to account just as robustly as mainstream schools where they have underperformed”.
However, the new measure will not apply to maintained nursery schools as the DfE says almost all (99 per cent) of these are currently rated “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted.
As part of the consultation, the department states that schools will only be considered for intervention if they have had a recent section 5 Ofsted inspection since 1 May 2021.
It insists that Ofsted will take the disruption of Covid into consideration when making judgements.
However, the consultation also adds that schools that have a “long-term history of underperformance” could be considered for intervention regardless of the date of their last Ofsted inspection.
Inspection history considered
The DfE has also said that “inspection histories of academies” should be taken to include judgements that were issued to the school prior to its conversion to academy status, or while it was part of a different academy trust.
But RDs will “not normally intervene in academies” that have not made the necessary improvements where the academy has not yet received a full inspection in their current trust.
The consultation closes on 23 May 2022.
