Bradford, Doncaster and Barnsley criticised but Rotherham singled out for praise in new Ofsted report

THREE areas of Yorkshire are named among the worst performing 16 places in the country for having a lack of schools rated as good and GCSE results which lag behind the national average.
High Peak schools have received a funding boost from Derbyshire County Council.High Peak schools have received a funding boost from Derbyshire County Council.
High Peak schools have received a funding boost from Derbyshire County Council.

The new national Ofsted report warns of a growing divide which sees more of England’s failing schools concentrated in the North and Midlands.

Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has suggested a lack of political will is contributing to the “growing divide” which means that of the 173 failing secondary schools in the country, 130 are in the North and Midlands, with just 43 in the South.

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His fourth annual Ofsted report found there are 16 local authority areas in England where fewer than 60 per cent of children attend good or outstanding secondary schools, have lower than national GCSE attainment and make less than national levels of expected progress.

Three of these were in Yorkshire: Doncaster, Bradford and Barnsley.

Doncaster has the lowest proportion of pupils attending a good primary or secondary school in the region.

Ofsted’s report shows just over a third (37 per cent) of pupils in the town attend good or outstanding schools. At primary schools the figure was 64 per cent.

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Bradford has 42 per cent of pupils attending good or outstanding schools and in Barnsley the figure is 59 per cent.

York had the highest proportion of pupils attending good secondary schools at 94 per cent while Leeds has the highest proportion of pupils attending good primary schools.

Ofsted’s regional director for Yorkshire Nick Hudson singled out Rotherham as an example of an authority achieving success with 90 per cent of secondary pupils attending good schools and he also mentioned Sheffield and North East Lincolshire which had seen the proportion of pupils attending good schools increase by more than 20 per cent in the space of a year.

East Riding also had an increase of more than 20 per cent of children going to good secondary schools in the space of a year while in North Lincolnshire the increase was 15 per cent, in Barnsley it was 12 per cent and in Hull it was ten per cent.

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The report said Bradford “stands out” as a city where standards have been far too low, for many years, across both primary and secondary schools.

There are almost 40,000 pupils there who attend schools that are less than good and, as a result, pupils in Bradford under-perform compared with national levels on almost every major measure of progress and attainment at ages five, seven, 11 and 16.

Coun Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council’s executive member for education, skills and culture, said: “We have a no excuses culture about Education in Bradford and we accept that historically improvements have not been made as quickly as they should have been.

“Ofsted did a full inspection in June this year, we also commissioned an independent review by one of the architects of the London Challenge. We’re now focussing on implementing a plan of action which Ofsted have endorsed.”

PROPORTION OF PUPILS IN GOOD SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Five highest in Yorkshire

York 94%

Rotherham 90%

North Lincs 85%

North Yorks 79%

Sheffield 79%

Five lowest

Doncaster 37%

Bradford 42%

Barnsley 59%

Hull 65%

East Riding 68%