'More schools may fail' (From Times Series)

'More schools may fail'

12:34pm Wednesday 18th February 2004 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

Barnet's chief education officer warned this week that more of the borough's schools are in danger of officially failing in the coming year.

Speaking at an education and children overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Monday (Feb 16), Gillian Palmer said: "I am anticipating a very significant number of schools in Barnet going into special measures. I think it is pretty clear there are increasing concerns in the Department for Education and Skills (Dfes) about the number of schools there are in special measures in Barnet.

"To use their phrase, we need to 'act decisively and take radical action'."

To date, Sunnyfields Community Primary in Hatchcroft, Hendon; St Mary's C of E High School in Downage, Hendon; Christ Church C of E School in Hilton Avenue, North Finchley; and Bishop Douglas RC High School in Hamilton Road, East Finchley, are all officially failing.

And Hendon School in Golders Rise, Hendon, and The Hyde Community Primary in The Hyde, West Hendon, have been identified as having some 'serious weaknesses'.

Schools which did not meet their target to improve will be closed, as is currently being proposed for both St Mary's and Christ Church, it was warned.

But Ms Palmer, who has been in her job for a year and has been overseeing the restructuring of the Local Education Authority (LEA), said despite her prediction, things are looking up.

She said: "We have much better mechanisms in place now, so I am aware of the schools with very, very significant concerns which the LEA was not aware of when I took on this job."

She explained: "The old system was not as rigorous and didn't operate in quite the same way. The LEA would simply make a decision and put a school in a category, but now there is a mechanism for schools to carry out their own self-review and they use a slightly simplified version of the Ofsted inspection framework. We are starting to reap the benefits of the new system."

A former headteacher who turned around two failing schools in other boroughs is due to visit education officers in two weeks' time to advise on the best way to help the schools in Barnet which are in trouble.