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Almost one in five secondary schools in England is to be given a warning to improve exam results or face closure.

The government is targeting 638 schools, in which less than 30% of pupils achieve at least five good GCSEs including English and maths.

The £400m standards drive, which will create up to 70 new academies, is to be launched by Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

Academies in deprived areas could "break the link between poverty and attainment", said Mr Balls.

The National Challenge, to be launched on Tuesday, will require every secondary school in England to have achieved this GCSE benchmark within three years.

Rescue plan

There are 27 secondary schools in Birmingham, 33 in Kent and 13 in Manchester facing this exams ultimatum.

The improvement plans will mean the acceleration of the academy programme, with 313 of these independent state schools set to be running by September 2010.

"Academies in the last few years have been taking intakes from more deprived areas, a move deprived intake than their area would suggest, and have faster rises in results than the average," Mr Balls told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Based on the regional London Challenge, the National Challenge will offer struggling schools extra funding, expert advice, mentoring from experienced head teachers and assistance from neighbouring schools and external partners.

The former chief inspector of schools, Mike Tomlinson, will chair a panel of National Challenge expert advisers.

There will also be a new type of school structure for those "completely unable to raise their exam results".

These National Challenge Trusts will see the shutting down of the failing school and a reopening of a new school, to be run as a joint project with a high-performing local school and a partner such as a local business or university, with up to £750,000 funding.

It is expected that there will be up to 70 of these National Challenge Trusts.

Local authorities are to be given 50 days to produce a rescue plan to improve schools in their area.

But for those that fail to make adequate progress there is the threat of intervention and possible closure.

Toughest areas

The list of schools under scrutiny shows the scale of problems in some parts of the country.

In Manchester and Bristol a majority of state secondary schools faces this threat of improve or close. In Kent, where there is a selective system, there are 33 non-selective schools below the government's new exam result threshold.

The National Union of Teachers has rejected the government's threat of closing these 638 schools - and says that these schools are often performing well in the "toughest areas".

But the government says there is no simple link between deprivation and underachievement - and that 96 of these schools have an intake that has a below average proportion of pupils on free school meals.

In 10 local authorities there will be a £200,000 initiative aimed at deprived areas, to be called Extra Mile, which will fund partnerships between struggling schools with successful neighbouring schools.

This project is aimed at getting pupils from deprived areas to raise their ambitions, with mentoring, visits from "local heroes", a system of houses and prefects and cultural trips.

Although welcoming the extra support for schools working in the "most challenging communities in the country", head teachers' leader John Dunford has warned against "stigmatising" this group of schools.

"It is entirely wrong for these 638 schools to be described in the media as failing. As the government has acknowledged, many of them are on a rising tide of achievement under their existing leadership," said Dr Dunford.

The shadow children, schools and families secretary, Michael Gove, said that the latest initiative showed the government did not know how to tackle weaknesses in schools.

"It is not just 600 schools at the bottom which give cause for concern. There are hundreds more where fewer than half the children get five good GCSEs and as a nation we are falling behind," he said.

Related Tags :

• General
• National Curriculum
• Teaching and Learning
• Secondary Schools

Last Edited Date : June 10 2008 10:11 am