Yesterday, Thursday 28 March, Ofsted published quarterly data on the inspection outcomes of state-funded schools, as of 31 December 2018. The headline statistic is that the proportion of pupils in Good or Outstanding schools is now 85% - this is a significant increase from 2010, when the figure stood at 66%. This was covered by the Times, Schools Week and in brief by the Sun.
Although the figure is a 1% decline on last year, it is still very positive and shows what great work is being done by our schools.
The article in the Times suggests that three quarters of Outstanding schools are in decline. This is misleading as Ofsted only inspects outstanding schools where specific concerns have been raised so while 65% of those schools reinspected are good or outstanding, it is only to be expected that in some of these cases schools will have declined, and this shows that its risk assessment approach is working. We have also recently asked Ofsted to increase its inspection of outstanding schools and to review its triggers for the inspection of these schools.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
As these statistics show, standards in our schools have risen significantly since 2010 - with 85% judged to be good or outstanding compared to only 68% in 2010.
On top of this, 163,000 more six-year-olds are now on track to be fluent readers than in 2012, we have seen the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers reduce across all stages of education and our new, more rigorous curriculum, is giving our young people the skills and knowledge they need to go on and get a good job or continue their education at college or university. Statistics released today also show that we’ve created 921,000 new school places since 2010, meaning the Government is on track to add an extra one million places nationwide in the decade up to 2020.
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