OXFORDSHIRE has been singled out in an annual report by education watchdog Ofsted for failing to perform as well as it should. Figures released by Ofsted show the number of Oxfordshire schools rated inadequate has nearly trebled since 2009, from just four to 11 on August 31, 2012.

More schools are also judged outstanding, with 10 additional schools getting Ofsted’s highest rating since 2009, bringing it up to a total of 43 outstanding schools.

But the proportion of good schools dropped by 20, a 12 per cent fall.

In the annual report, Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of education, children’s services and skills, said: “It is noticeable that there is no correlation between the degree of access to good primary education as judged by Ofsted and the socio-economic profile of the local authority area. “Oxfordshire is among the 20 per cent of local authority areas with the lowest proportion of pupils attending good or better primary schools.”

The county ranks 127th of 152 local education authorities for the proportion of outstanding schools, 75th for good, 34th for satisfactory and 32nd for unsatisfactory.

And of the 10 most similar local authorities, it has the second lowest percentage of outstanding schools and the second highest for inadequate. Oxfordshire County Council education cabinet member Melinda Tilley said: “We know we have a lot more work to do but the whole team has taken robust action to help those under-performing schools turn around and to keep our outstanding and good schools on track.

‘Requiring improvement’ is not good enough and our priority is to raise attainment across the county. “We are having challenging conversations with schools that are under performing and, on occasion, issuing ‘warning notices’ or where appropriate removing governing bodies.”

Oxfordshire National Union of Teachers secretary Gawain Little said it was unfair to label Oxfordshire as affluent as the figures masked pockets of deprivation. And he said it was difficult to compare figures schools’ gradings from previous years as the Ofsted framework was continually changing. He said: “I would express real caution about this because the Ofsted criteria have changed significantly. “The framework changes so regularly, to make like-for-like comparisons is impossible.”

Jon Gray, headteacher at Cutteslowe Primary School, currently judged inadequate and in special measures, said: “I would argue whether this is a countywide issue or whether it is about individual schools.”

 

Performance rankings:

  • AS OF August 31, 2012, 15 per cent of Oxfordshire schools were judged outstanding, 49 per cent good, 33 per cent satisfactory and four per cent inadequate.
     
  • That compared to a national picture of 21 per cent of schools in England deemed outstanding, 49 per cent good, 28 per cent satisfactory and three per cent inadequate.
     
  • Of the 152 local authorities, Oxfordshire came 127th for the proportion rated outstanding, 75th for good, 34th for satisfactory and 3rd for unsatisfactory. That means 183 schools in the county were rated good or better.