Education Secretary Nicky Morgan tells The Northern Echo why she has taken the "difficult decision" to close the failing Durham Free School

AS a parent, I know there are few moments in a child’s life more important than their first day at a new school. It can be a daunting time for any pupil, but in schools across the country thousands of teachers do excellent work to help pupils settle in, putting them on the path to fulfilling their potential.

My moral mission as Education Secretary is to ensure that every time a pupil enters the school gate they step into an environment where they can flourish. One day spent in a failing school is one day too many, and I am deeply concerned when I hear of pupils being let down.

In late October my officials received serious allegations regarding the standard of education being offered at Durham Free School. We sent in a team of experts to assess whether standards were good enough – and it was abundantly clear that they were not. Serious concerns around pupil behaviour, school leadership and the quality of teaching were fed back to me and I did not hesitate in asking Ofsted to conduct a full no-notice inspection.

What Ofsted found is enough to shock any parent, including me. Its report, published on Monday, paints a picture of a school in disarray. Bad behaviour, including cases of bullying, appears to be rampant. Standards are low, while progress is inadequate. And school leaders are failing to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.

I have considered if it is possible for this to be turned around quickly and investigated the possibility of injecting new leadership. But it is clear to me that this has been a troubled school for some time and there is no imminent prospect of improvement.

That is why I have taken the difficult decision to close the school.

This school is a free school, and one of the great strengths of the programme is that we can take far swifter action than would happen in most schools. We are able to act promptly and decisively so that no free school will ever find itself languishing in failure. This is an extremely rare case – free schools are offering tens of thousands of pupils in every corner of the country a chance to go to an outstanding local school, with more than two-thirds being rated "good" or "outstanding".

Parents can rest assured that we are working closely with the local council to ensure the pupils move swiftly to other local schools and that their transition is as smooth as possible. The local authority has assured us they have capacity and as local standards are high, I am confident that pupils will not lose out.

Having to close any school is rare and deeply regrettable. The memories that pupils have formed at Durham Free School will last a lifetime, and parents will naturally wonder where this leaves their child’s education. But this is a decision made with the best interests of the children in mind. Our task now is to work together to ensure they thrive in their new school and go on to fulfil their potential and succeed in life.