Hundreds of 'mediocre' English schools failing to improve

23 Nov 11
Almost 800 schools in England are mediocre and need to improve as a 'matter of urgency', Ofsted said today
By Nick Mann | 22 November 2011

Almost 800 schools in England are mediocre and need to improve as a ‘matter of urgency’, Ofsted said today.
In its annual report for the 2010/11 academic year, the education and children’s services watchdog said the schools, 14% of the total, had failed to upgrade their ‘satisfactory’ rating and had only ‘satisfactory’ capacity to improve.

The ‘satisfactory’ rating means a school is not performing badly enough to require intervention, but is not doing well enough to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.

Ofsted also found that 16 of the 84 colleges it inspected in 2010/11 had been rated ‘satisfactory’ for at least three years, while social care and childcare providers faced ‘similar challenges’.

Chief inspector Miriam Rosen said: ‘It is of great concern... to see the high number of schools, colleges and childcare providers that are consistently delivering services for children and young people that are no better than satisfactory.

‘Ensuring that there is real improvement must be a matter of urgency for these organisations.’

Schools minister Nick Gibb echoed these concerns. He said: ‘There are still far too many underperforming schools making painfully slow improvements. It is worrying that Ofsted finds that 800 schools are stuck steadfastly at a satisfactory rating in inspection after inspection.

‘It’s a real concern that some schools with very able intakes are merely coasting instead of making sure students achieve their full potential. And outstanding or good schools cannot afford to take their foot off the pedal simply because they have had a strong inspection result.’

Gibb said the government’s education reform programme would aim to address the issue by raising standards across the board.

‘We will not let mediocre performance continue unchecked and we are clear that there will be no hiding place for schools that are not making the progress they should,’ he said.

The Ofsted report also raised particular concerns over council services for vulnerable children, with nearly one in five child protection services inspected in 2010/11 found to be inadequate and putting children at risk.

It also found that schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils were four times more likely to be rated ‘inadequate’ than schools with the lowest proportion.

But the inspectors welcomed the general progress made by schools previously identified as being a concern.

Over a fifth of those judged ‘inadequate’ on their previous inspection were found to be ‘good’ or better when inspected in 2010/11.

And the number of schools either in special measures or given notice to improve fell from 553 at the end of 2009/10 to 451 at the end of August 2011.

At the report’s launch this morning, Rosen said: ‘In every sector there are organisations delivering outstanding services to disadvantaged pupils, proving that it is possible.’
 

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