Academies: North West

(asked on 20th January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academies are rated by Ofsted as (a) inadequate and (b) requires improvement in (i) Preston constituency, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) the North West; and what steps he is taking to improve educational outcomes for pupils in these areas.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 27th January 2020

The information requested is published by Ofsted and is set out in the tables attached. The first table shows the number of academies in Preston, Lancashire and the North West that are rated as ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. The second table shows the national breakdown for all school types in England.

As at 31 August 2019, the two academies in Preston constituency were both rated as ‘outstanding’ and 95% of the academies in the Lancashire local authority were rated as ‘good’ or 'outstanding’. Nationally, 86% of all schools in England were rated as either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.

Where an academy’s performance is a cause for concern, the Department will respond. Where Ofsted have inspected an academy and issued it with an ‘inadequate’ rating, the Department has powers to take decisive action to bring about school improvement, including whether it is in the school’s best interests to be transferred to a stronger academy trust, with the capacity to deliver strong and rapid school improvement. For ‘requires improvement’ schools, including academies, the Department has published a School Support Offer for the academic year 2019/20. The offer provides support from a National Leader of Education and other funded support for schools, based on published criteria. The details of the School Support Offer are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-improvement-support-for-the-2019-to-2020-academic-year.

There are currently no academies in Preston constituency that were rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. In Lancashire, however, there was one academy (Fulwood Academy) that was rated as ‘inadequate’ in February 2018 and one academy (Penwortham Priory Academy) that was rated as ‘inadequate’ in July 2017.

The Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire is overseeing and monitoring the steps that Fulwood Academy is taking to secure improvements, in line with the Schools Causing Concern guidance published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-causing-concern--2.

Penwortham Priory Academy meets the eligibility criteria for the School Support Offer, which provides support from a National Leader of Education. Eligible schools are supported by the Teaching School Council to access this support.

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