ABSTRACT
Of the 186 secondary schools in England where fewer than 25 per cent of their pupils achieved at least five good GCSE grades in 2004, 74 had been designated by Ofsted as requiring special measures and a further 57 as having serious weaknesses. Of course, not every school below this standard is technically ‘underperforming’. Some have a relatively high value added score when comparing the ability and academic standard of their intakes with their performance at GCSE. Nevertheless, the nation cannot ignore the plight of the over 150,000 children in these schools. Many will leave school at 16 unable to read or write to a reasonable level or without basic numeracy skills. They will lack the minimum skills which modern jobs require.
