Ofsted targets Portsmouth's under-performing schools

Portsmouth is the second area to be subjected to the watchdog’s focused school inspections in localities where the proportion of children attending a good or outstanding school is below the national average.

According to Ofsted data from December 2012, only 34 per cent of secondary school children in Portsmouth attend a good or better school. For primary school children, the figure is 53 per cent.

Matthew Coffey, Ofsted regional director for the South East, said the inspections are designed to address the fact that the quality of schools varies too much across local authority areas with similar demographics, such as population size and deprivation.

“In Portsmouth, barely a third of secondary school-age children and just over half of primary school children were doing so at the time of the last annual report,” he said.

“That is why we are carrying out focused school inspections across under-performing areas, where we will be looking not just at the performance of the individual schools but also the support they are receiving from their local authority.

“We will be seeking to determine whether councils are really fulfilling their statutory duties to promote high standards and fair access to educational opportunity.”

At the same time, Ofsted will conduct a separate telephone survey of a number of Portsmouth’s schools, to identify the quality of improvement support provided by the local authority.

Derby was the first local area to be scrutinised under the new checks last month. The watchdog found the council’s school improvement officers are working to challenge local schools more rigorously.

But the inspection also revealed that schools in the area did not have a “clear and consistent understanding of the local authority’s vision for school improvement across the city”.

Earlier this month, Ofsted launched a consultation on a new framework to inspect school improvement services in under-performing local authorities.

If the current wave of targeted inspections show that a council is being proactive in addressing issues and that standards in schools are improving, this will be acknowledged in a letter to the local director of children’s services.

However, if there is evidence that the local authority is not fulfilling its statutory duty to promote high standards and fair access to educational opportunity, Ofsted will move to carry out an inspection of that authority’s school improvement functions under the new framework that is due to come into effect from May.

Rob Wood, lead member for education and children at Portsmouth City Council, argued that schools in the area have improved since Ofsted's annual report was published at the end of last year.

“There has been significant progress in improving education in Portsmouth as shown initially by the achievements of our GCSE pupils last summer,” he said. ?

“Recent positive school inspections by Ofsted have reflected this improvement, and currently 66 per cent of all schools in Portsmouth are rated as good or better.? This means some 53.5 per cent of secondary and 65 per cent of primary pupils in Portsmouth go to a school that is currently rated good or outstanding by Ofsted.

“We realise however there is still much work before each of our pupils receive the standard of education they deserve, and we have identified a strategy with schools to achieve this.? The Ofsted judgement on a school is one of a number of indictors which shows the progress schools are making.”