Councillors and local authority officers from Doncaster will meet Schools Secretary Ed Balls next month for showdown talks in an attempt to raise standards at the town's poorest performing comprehensives.

The Government wants individual schools to hit a benchmark of 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.

And Whitehall officials have identified 638 under-performing schools nationwide for their £200m National Challenge programme - which could see schools enrol expert help or become academies in an attempt to improve attainment.

Among the 638 institutions is Northcliffe, where last year only 17 per cent of pupils gained five A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths - the lowest pass rate in South Yorkshire.

In Doncaster, Rossington All Saints Community Sports College, Balby Carr Community Sports College, North Doncaster Technology College, Danum School Technology College and Edlington School have also been earmarked for improvement.

Next month's summit will offer a range of future options including buying in expert English and maths tuition or becoming an academy ran jointly by the local authority and a business or university.

Stronger schools could also be asked to develop a 'culture of excellence' for a weaker school by becoming a federation, while trust status will also be considered.

Local authorities will be asked to draw up action plans for each school following next month's talks.

Ed Balls, secretary of state for children, schools and families said that not all of the 638 schools were failing, and added that approximately a third were making good progress.

"About two-thirds of the 638 have been below 30 per cent for some time and are not making the progress we would like," he said.

"They need more intensive efforts over the next two or three years to
get above the threshold, so we will be inviting all director's of children's services and councillors responsible for education to meet with us in June.

"We will set out then the range of opportunities available, school by school, with £200m not yet allocated to support that effort."