THE Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough, which was the first in the Government’s much-vaunted programme to rescue low-achieving schools, was failed by the education watchdog Ofsted yesterday.

Three years after it opened, the £18 million school was found to have unsatisfactory leadership, low standards and was “failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education”. The Ofsted report deals a blow to the Government’s £5 billion plan to create 200 city academies by 2010, which is the intent of Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister.

Critics of the policy pointed out that neither the Langbaurgh school nor Keldholme school, which the academy replaced, had been improving before their takeover and were never put into special measures.

In a nine-page report, Jane Joyner, the inspector, highlighted dozens of problems facing Unity, which is sponsored by Amey Construction. Chief of her concerns was that the two schools had moved into the new building only eight months ago — four weeks before the headteacher had quit; as many as a third of the teachers were away each day; the school faced a £1.5 million deficit; teaching was poor, there was no playground and inadequate extracurricular facilities.

Mike Griffiths, 50, the chief executive, who was appointed to manage Unity just four months before the March inspection, said: “There are some positive signs, ranging from significant improvements in Key Stage subjects such as English and maths, to the recent national success of our students in the inaugural Academies’ Young Film-maker’s Festival.”

As part of plans to turn the school around, the Department for Education and Skills announced that Unity will enter into partnership with Macmillan CTC, a successful neighbouring city technology college, set up under a Conservative government, to learn from its management expertise.

Schools put into special measures must draw up an action plan, which is approved by the DfES, before Ofsted returns six months later and visits every term until it has improved. If after two years the school has not made significant progress, the Secretary of State may close it down.

In March the Labour-dominated Commons Education and Skills Select Committee issued a critical report, questioning why ministers were determined to spend so much money on academies when they were unproven.

The scheme, which involves private sector sponsors running state schools largely at the taxpayer’s expense, includes 17 academies. The Government is in the process of approving 40 more at £25 million each. Sponsors in general give £2 million in return for having a large say over how a school is run.

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