The ultimatum, to be announced in a speech by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, raises the stakes for struggling schools by halving the length of time that they have to raise standards. The Government said last year that poor schools would be identified and replaced with city academies, as part of a programme to create 200 such institutions by 2010.

After another set of record A-level and GCSE results, Ms Kelly will praise the work of staff and pupils, but also declare her intention to “make a reality of equality of opportunity” and take “radical action” to tackle failing schools.

She will tell the Local Government Association that, from September next year, schools said by Ofsted not to have improved after a year could be shut. They may be reopened under new leadership, told to form links with a successful school nearby or closed outright.

“We must not allow our children in our weakest schools to suffer too long before we intervene and turn things round,” she will say. “Being in special measures for more than a year must become a thing of the past. Parents, children and communities deserve better.”

At present schools can spend two years in special measures, the Ofsted rating that signals a school is failing. Others, however, can spend several years floundering with serious weaknesses.

David Bell, the Chief Inspector of Schools, who has been calling for the move, said:

“Ofsted’s evidence over the years would suggest that if no progress has been made after one year in a failing school, it is unlikely to happen at all. A child’s school years only come round once — their education is too important to allow failing schools to continue failing year after year.”

Concerns have already been raised by schools that Ofsted’s recent announcement that it will conduct snap inspections could hasten the closure of some schools.

The latest proposal appears, however, to have been inspired more by a desire to find candidates for the £5 billion academy programme.

Ms Kelly’s aides said that the reforms would mean failing schools could be forced to reopen as academies or be taken over by companies, faith organisations or groups of parents.

The academy programme has caused controversy because of the control private sponsors exercise over the academies in exchange for donating up to £2 million.

The taxpayer picks up the rest of the bill for a new academy, typically totalling about £25 million, leaving the local authority with virtually no say.

Philip O’Hear, head of Capital City Academy in Brent, northwest London, said that although he agreed in principle with the plan, he hoped that decisions would be based on “a proper judgment, not headline results”.

And he insisted that heads cannot change “entrenched bad habits” overnight. “Embedding success is harder than entrenching failure, especially in areas of high need.”

SPECIAL MEASURES

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