Sevenoaks parents prevented from seeing list of failing schools

Parents in Sevenoaks are being kept in the dark over plans for failing schools by KCC's cabinet member for education.

Under a new initiative called Kent Challenge, education authority Kent County Council has drawn up a secret list of 132 poorly performing schools in need of urgent treatment.

Twenty-three have been identified across Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

But cabinet member for education, Cllr Mike Whiting, has refused to make the list public, despite admitting if standards have not improved within two years they could be forced down the academy route.

Mr Whiting said: "It's not my intention to make the list public, we're not trying to put schools in the spotlight here.

"If the head teachers want to tell their parents they're in the Kent Challenge I've no issue with that."

Mr Whiting added: "The Government made it quite clear it wished to see schools convert to academies and one of its solutions for under performance is a structural solution.

"By that I mean schools will be made academies or become part of an academy trust."

The 132 poorly performing schools across the county have all been given a category ranging from one to four.

Those in categories three and four are the ones most in need of attention. In West Kent 14 schools have been categorised as three and four and a further nine as one and two.

It could result in head teachers and their senior management team being sacked.

Although school governing bodies ultimately decide whether or not to convert to academies, secretary of state for education Michael Gove has the power to force them to adopt the status which frees them from local authority control.

Mr Whiting claims that if schools can be lifted out of difficulty they may avoid a "structural solution", but whether the council has the appetite to do this remains to be seen.

Mr Whiting said: "The way things are going, from my point of view the council would like 100 per cent of schools to become academies.

"I've said all along my job here is to try and ensure all the children of Kent get the best possible education they can."

Lib Dem leader Councillor, Trudy Dean welcomed the new initiative 'in principle' but only if the right resources were focused on the right schools.

Wilderness School and Bradbourne School in Sevenoaks united to become Knole Academy in 2010, but Ms Dean said: "My own view is academy status is simply a bribe. It's accompanied by a large amount of funding from the Government.

"We need to have high standards everywhere in the county and we need to work together, not by creating different categories of school."