by political editor Paul Francis

Consultation is to start on a major re-organisation affecting four Kent secondary schools, dealing with falling numbers - and standards.

County councillors have given the go-ahead to consultation on separate plans for the schools in Maidstone, Dover and Deal.

Under the plans outlined by Kent County Council, consultation is to start on the following schemes:

A proposal to turn the Astor of Hever School in Maidstone into an academy sponsored by the Woodard Trust, a Christian charity;

A proposal to turn Archer’s Court School Maths and Computing College in Dover into an academy, sponsored jointly by KCC, Canterbury Christ Church University and the two neighbouring grammar schools;

A proposal to merge Deal’s two secondary schools - Castle Community College and Walmer Science College - as a new trust school to be built on the Castle School site.

The plans are partly linked to KCC’s efforts to lift standards at the schools. Both Astor of Hever and Archer's Court are among 33 Kent schools currently failing to achieve the Government’s target for 2011 for all schools to have 30 per cent of students passing five or more GCSEs including maths and English.

Education Secretary Ed Balls has threatened to close schools that fail to meet the target and recently announced he was sending in special advisers to help Kent because of the high number of under-achieving schools.

In the case of the two Deal schools, the merger has been prompted by concerns over falling pupil numbers.

The academy plans, if eventually agreed, would see the Maidstone and Dover schools formally closed then re-opened as academies in 2010.

Archers Court is likely to be re-built as a new school on the same site.

County councillors approved the consultation process today (Thursday 8).