York: More children attend schools rated 'outstanding'

Ofsted inspectors visit every primary and secondary school about every four years for an inspection, and will give it one of four possible ratings – outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Department for Education data shows that 35.04 per cent of the 25,924 children in York attended schools rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted in 2021-22.

Across England, 18 per cent of pupils attended outstanding schools in the 2021-22 academic year, the most recent year for which data is available.

A further 58.02 per cent of York children attended ‘good’ rated schools, Across England, 69 per cent of schools received a good rating by Ofsted.

Cllr Bob Webb, City of York council’s executive member for children, young people and education, said: “I’d like to thank all of our schools for the hard work they put into educating York’s young people, day-in, day-out.

“This is reflected in these figures, and I hope that in York we can celebrate all of the brilliant work going on in all our schools.

“The strength of York’s school system is very important to the city and Ofsted inspections are just one of many ways that this is evidenced.

“We want all our children and young people to thrive in supportive schools where they can enjoy an inspiring curriculum and have an exciting and broad range of opportunities to develop their life skills.”

Meanwhile, 6.67 per cent of York’s pupils were at schools deemed to require improvement, compared to England’s 10 per cent average, and 73 pupils (0.28 per cent) attended schools rated ‘inadequate’, Ofsted’s lowest rating, compared to England’s two per cent.

One per cent of children attended schools that haven’t been rated yet.

The figures come as the Association of School and College Leaders criticised the Ofsted system, warning schools deemed to be failing are destined to lose out on much-needed funds.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the current Ofsted system led to the "ridiculous" situation where property prices are affected by a school's result, making it harder for poorer families to live near the best schools.

Mr Barton explained: "Once you are deemed ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ it’s the devil’s own job to escape that category because it’s harder to recruit staff and your pupil roll – and hence funding – falls.

"The system has to change so that inspection outcomes are more nuanced, supportive and genuinely aid improvement where it is needed.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said the Government has invested £14 billion to help local authorities create 1.2 million new school places since 2010.

They said: “Parents rightly want to know how their child’s school is doing and I fully support our approach to providing a clear one-word rating to inform their decisions.

"Ofsted has been central to our success in driving up school standards, with 88 per cent of our schools now rated good or outstanding - up from 68 per cent when this Government came into office.”