In the same month, the school was earmarked £1 million to help improve its standards during the next two years, being one of seven schools nationally to be awarded funding by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). This followed an earlier announcement the school had been accepted as a National Challenge Trust School status, which allows councils to "raise standards in schools where replacement with an Academy would not be the best option". The status is designed for schools with less than 30 percent achieving five or more GCSE A* to C grades, including English and Maths; Hundred of Hoo achieved 26 percent in 2008 compared to 46.6 percent nationally and locally.