Half of city’s secondary schools are rated well

Half of the secondary schools in Sunderland are rated as good or outstanding, according to new figures.

Education watchdog Ofsted has released its annual report for 2017/18, which gives a pictures of the performance of early years, schools, further education and skills, and social care providers in England.

It found that 50% of secondary schools in the Sunderland area are class as good or outstanding, which is exactly the same figure as last year.

However, the figure is below the North East average of 58% and also well below the England average of 75%.

The number of Sunderland primary schools rated as good or outstanding is at 93%, a fall of 4% on last year.

The figure is higher than the regional average of 90% and higher than the national average of 87%.

And of the 15,505 pupils who attended secondary schools in Sunderland in 2016/17, a total of 503 had one or more fixed period exclusion, a rate of 3.24%.

The number of pupils with fixed period exclusions in secondary schools in Sunderland was 742, which works out at 4.79%.

The national average is 9.4%, compared to 12.9% for the North East.

Simon Marshall, director of education at Together for Children, which manages children’s services on behalf of Sunderland City Council, said: “Sunderland’s primary school performance remains above the national average at foundation and Key Stage 2 and our School Improvement service is committed to supporting schools to work in partnership.

“We offer a programme of training, support and opportunities to engage in all aspects of school improvement.”