Ten mainstream Oxfordshire schools were rated as outstanding last year, it has been revealed.

Inspectors from Ofsted visited 102 of the county’s primary and secondary schools during the 2007-2008 academic year, and awarded 10 the top rating.

Michael Waine, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for schools improvement, said: “We are very pleased with the ever-increasing number of schools in Oxfordshire that have been rated outstanding by Ofsted. Three years ago, very few of our schools were.

“Tied in with our very much improved GCSE results this year, it paints a vastly improved picture.

“However, we are under no illusions that we have much more to do. I want to see far more schools rated as outstanding because that could only mean yet more improvement when it comes to attainment, including GCSEs.”

The overall number of schools in the county rated as outstanding now stands at 25, including special schools.

Among them is St Thomas More Primary School, Kidlington. Headteacher Claire Robinson said: “It takes the dedication and commitment of everybody sharing a common goal to make it outstanding.

“I think all schools would aspire to be outstanding, and I think there is an awful lot of work going on in schools in Oxfordshire that is outstanding.

“Different schools face different challenges.”

There are 32 secondary schools, 243 primary schools and 17 special schools in Oxfordshire.

Of the 102 mainstream schools inspected last year, 57 were ranked as good, 29 as satisfactory and six as inadequate.

Among special schools, eight were inspected, with two receiving an outstanding ranking, five a good rating and one which was deemed satisfactory.

There are still only two secondary schools in the county, The Cherwell School, in North Oxford, and Faringdon Community College, which are ranked as outstanding.

John Mason School, in Abingdon, was given a notice of improvement following an inspection in January 2008, when it was rated inadequate.

Headteacher Di Mashiter, who joined nine days before the inspection, said: “The vision of our school is to become an outstanding learning school and that is where we are going.

“An awful lot of things have changed and improved already, and I think it is perfectly reasonable and possible to expect any school to aspire to being outstanding.

The county’s outstanding schools (*= inspected in 2007/2008 school year): Nurseries: Lydalls Nursery School, Didcot The Ace Centre Nursery School, Chipping Norton Grandpont Nursery School, Oxford Primaries: *Great Tew County Primary School *King’s Meadow Primary School, Bicester *Watlington Primary School Fritwell Primary School *Stanton Harcourt Primary School *Combe Church of England Primary, Witney *St Nicholas Infants’ School, Wallingford Hagbourne Primary School Beckley Primary School *St Peter’s Infants’ School, Bampton St Thomas More Primary School, Kidlington Dr Radcliffe’s School, Bicester Hanwell Fields Community School, Banbury *Appleton Primary School Shellingford School, Faringdon Secondaries: *Faringdon Community College * The Cherwell School, Oxford Special Schools: *Mulberry Bush School, Witney Fitzwaryn Special School, Wantage Frank Wise Special School, Banbury Penhurst Special School, Chipping Norton Northern House Special school, Oxford