Word for the day: Contagion

... or for schools in a multi-academy trust, the inadequate rating of one school, if not remedied, can spread to other schools in the multi-academy trust - causing them to be placed in special measures by Ofsted.  

So, if you are an academy school which has been in special measures for 16 months, having been deemed inadequate by Ofsted, and your school shares its executive head teacher and governing body with another academy school in a multi-academy environment, that other school can itself become "inadequate" irrespective of how good that school has previously been rated at.  

It is a huge risk for an "outstanding" secondary school academy who shares resources with an inadequate school which has failed to get out of special measures after a 4 HMI visits.  

As far as I understand it, OFSTED view such schools as one entity.  In Company Law terms, it is called "lifting the corporate veil".