Crunch talks over failings at Sandwell secondary schools

Sandwell is the worst performing area of the Black Country for pupils attending good or outstanding secondary schools, according to Ofsted's annual report.

Council bosses have put the failings down to a lack of Government support for struggling academies.

The borough came 130th out of 150 local authorities, with the number of pupils going to schools falling in the top two ratings at 57 per cent - more than 16 per cent below the national average.

It came despite a four per cent improvement on the 2013/14 figures. The report also showed that seven out of every 10 secondary school pupils in Sandwell now attend academies, which are free from local authority control.

Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services said: "Along with the leader Councillor Darren Cooper, I met with head teachers and principals from all secondary schools in Sandwell where we expressed our concerns about performance.

"We have challenged our secondary schools to make improvements and will be meeting head teachers and principals again in the New Year to find out what measures are in place.

"Most importantly, as most of our secondary schools are now academies, we will be ensuring that the Regional Schools Commissioner and the DfE are held fully to account for the academies that they are responsible for.

"It is clear from this report, and from our own experiences, that the support from the Government for struggling academies has not been consistently good or particularly effective.

"We will be pushing to see academy support increase with a far more effective response from the RSC and DfE to improve matters."

The number of youngsters attending good or outstanding primary schools in Sandwell rose by one per cent to 83 per cent, although the borough dropped 24 places in the national table to 98th position.

Only 17 per cent of primary pupils in Sandwell attend academies.

Mr Hackett added: "It is really important that children in Sandwell get the best education possible and it is heartening to see that the proportion of good and outstanding schools has increased again this year in the borough.

"Primary schools are doing well and continue to match national performance but, despite having a number of really good secondary schools, we know there is much more work to be done there."

Nationally the number of pupils attending good or outstanding schools averaged 85 per cent for primaries and 73.5 per cent for secondary schools.