Region's schools fare badly in tougher inspection regime

There have been almost 400 reports assessing Yorkshire schools in the first two terms of this academic year using a tougher new inspection framework.

So far 47 schools in the region, or 12 per cent, have been found to be inadequate and a further 161, or 41 per cent, were only rated as satisfactory.

Ofsted teams rated 153 Yorkshire schools as good and 37, less than 10 per cent, as outstanding. The figures released yesterday by the education watchdog revealed Rotherham and Sheffield had the highest number of schools rated as failing, with six, while Bradford had the highest number of schools rated as outstanding, with eight.

The performance of Yorkshire schools was slightly worse than the national average of nine per cent of schools classed as failing and a further 38 per cent rated as satisfactory.

The statistics show the number of schools deemed not good enough – rated either inadequate or satisfactory – has rocketed since Ofsted introduced its new inspection regime last September.

Ofsted says it is now focusing more on weaker schools, with good and outstanding schools inspected less frequently.

Yesterday's figures give the inspection results for 3,990 schools in England inspected between September 1, last year and March 31, this year.

The new Government aims to allow outstanding schools to move automatically to academy status and become exempt from future Ofsted inspections.

So far six outstanding schools in the region have declared an interest in becoming an academy with Newby Primary, in Bradford, the latest to confirm that it has approached the Department for Education for more information.