Standards 'too low' at Black Country secondary schools
Standards of secondary school education in the Black Country are 'unacceptably low' according to the head of Ofsted.
Lorna Fitzjohn, head of Ofsted in the West Midlands, has written an open letter to four councils in the region as well as academy trusts and MPs.
Ms Fitzjohn said that the achievements of pupils by the time they reached the age of 16 were 'poor' in comparison to other regions in the UK.
However, Black Country schools have, according to the Department for Education, 'improved drastically' since its reforms began.
Ms Fitzjohn also said there is a 'wide' gap between GCSE achievements of disadvantaged pupils and their better-off counterparts.
She said secondary schools were regularly failing to build on the success of pupils in primary schools with 'much of their progress going to waste'.
The government watchdog said that 76 schools in the Black Country, 53 or 70 per cent, were academies and the rest local authority-maintained.
However, Ms Fitzjohn said the concerns were 'prevalent in both types of schools'.
She said: "Of 151 local authorities, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are among the worst 25 in England for GCSE attainment.
"Dudley fares little better and is among the worst 35 local authorities in the country for secondary school attainment."
Councillor Ian Cooper, of Dudley's children's services, said: "We are already focussing on areas in need of improvement and have discussed our priorities for getting standards in the secondary sector back on track with both Ofsted and the Department for Education.
"We have also brought in a new schools leadership team to the authority who have been working very closely in partnership with our schools in the School Improvement Alliance."
Ms Fitzjohn continued: "In Walsall, barely half the pupils (51 per cent) in 2015 attained five or more good GCSEs including English and mathematics.
"In Sandwell, that proportion was less than half (47 per cent) and had dropped since the previous year.
"This performance is damaging to both the prospects of the young people themselves and the economic prosperity of the area."
However, Ms Fitzjohn also pointed out that credit should be given to Walsall and Wolverhampton for 'improving their GCSE performance in 2015'.
She said: "Wolverhampton was the fourth most improved authority in the country, albeit from a low base."
Ms Fitzjohn has now called for urgent action to take place to address the problems.
She said: "Urgent action is needed to raise the standard of secondary education in the urban heart of the West Midlands so that it can support a thriving local community and economy. Leaders from across the education system and politicians who represent their local communities need to come together to spearhead the much needed support and improvements for the children and young people of the region."
Julien Kramer,Wolverhampton's director of education, said: "We accept that still more needs to be done to improve standards still further – particularly around secondary education – and we are rising to the challenge. Make no mistake, there has never been a better time to be a pupil in Wolverhampton.
There is still much work to be done, but the message is clear; education standards in Wolverhampton are as good as they have ever been – and are getting better."
Councillor Rose Burley, from Walsall's portfolio holder for education services said: "Walsall Council recognises that continuing work needs to be done to improve secondary school standards in Walsall and the Black Country as a whole.
"Walsall Children's Services has not been complacent and we are confident that our existing schools improvement programme will deliver sustainable improvements over the next two years."
Councillor Simon Hackett, of Sandwell's children's services, said: "We are working very closely with all our secondary schools both those we maintain and the academies but of Sandwell's 17 secondary schools, there are only five where we can intervene to improve standards."
