Britain’s worst schools can be found in two regions, one in the north and another in the south, Ofsted has determined.
The educational standards agency last released its nationwide ratings in April 2023, identifying areas where schools have the highest – and lowest – proportions of positive and negative appraisals in England.
Ofsted found that, in 2022, 88 percent of English schools managed to obtain “Outstanding” or “Good” ratings, with the proportion of the former – its highest possible rating – having dropped from 20 percent to 17 percent.
At the same time, the proportion of “Inadequate” schools has also dropped, down from four to three percent.
But two unitary authorities were found to have the highest proportion of schools with Ofsted’s lowest ratings.
The Ofsted data found multiple areas where just under a quarter of all schools were considered sub-standard.
The agency found that 24 percent of schools in one northern region, Doncaster, were deemed “inadequate”.
Just one other city on the UK mainland has a comparable proportion of schools rated Inadequate.
Ofsted inspectors gave 23 percent of schools in Cheshire the lowest possible rating.
Halton, a city in the unitary authority, had the highest proportion of schools deemed “Inadequate” on the mainland, the Ofsted data showed.
When considering schools off the mainland, the Isles of Scilly has the highest proportion with this low rating.
The one school inspected in 2022 was found to have an “Inadequate” rating, the 2023 data showed.
When a school is rated Inadequate by Ofsted, the agency said it places the institution in a “category of concern”.
The government body explained: “When we judge a school as inadequate, we place the school in a category of concern.
“This means that we judge the school either to have serious weaknesses or to require special measures.”
