Holy Trinity Primary and Sunny Brow Nursery named as 'outstanding providers' by Ofsted

Ofsted launched its Annual Report for 2014/15 today (1 December) and the list of outstanding providers in the North West includes Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, Rochdale and Sunny Brow Nursery School, Rochdale.

The Annual Report has found that there is a wide divide in educational performance across the country after the age of 11. 

Breakdown of primary school performance for the region
Rochdale is ranked 92nd
84% of pupils in good or outstanding schools 2015
Change from 2014 (%pts) 1
3% of pupils in academies

Breakdown of secondary school performance for the region
Rochdale is rank 85th
77% of pupils in good or outstanding schools 2015
Change from 2014 (%pts) -9
26% of pupils in academies

In the North West 83% of early years providers are now good or better; this is an increase from 77% in 2014. Getting more children from low-income families into high-quality early education at an early age is essential for improving readiness for school.
The proportion of children who achieved a good level of development by the end of the early year’s foundation stage has increased in almost all of the region’s local authorities.

However, some areas remain well below national levels. Children eligible for free school meals are markedly less likely to achieve a good level of development than their peers.

There is a clear divide between the quality of provision in the region’s primary schools compared to its secondary schools: 

• 69% of secondary schools were judged good or better by August 2015; this is up from 67% in the previous year.
• 88% of primary schools were judged good or better by August 2015 an increase from 86% in the previous year.

Pupils in primary schools in the North West receive a good standard of education and as a result their achievement is in line with the England level. This year, 90% of children reached the expected standard of Level 2 or above in reading at the end of Key Stage 1. Provisional Key Stage 2 results show that 81% achieved Level 4 or above in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.  

The quality of provision in secondary schools across many localities in the region remains a cause for concern. There are 16 local authority areas in England where less than 60 per cent of secondary schools are good or better and which have lower than average attainment and progress at GCSE. Six of these are in the North West region.

Pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) continue to achieve less well than other pupils and the difference is stubbornly wide in many areas at secondary level. In 2014, in five local authority areas the attainment gap between FSM pupils and their peers was above 35 percentage points for the proportion of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C , including English and mathematics. 

At 95%, the proportion of the region’s sixth form colleges judged to be good or better is well above the national figure of 88%. The North West also has the highest number of sixth form colleges graded outstanding in England. Seventy-eight percent of provision in the region’s further education colleges is judged to be good or better, which is in line with the England level.

Commenting on the region’s education performance, Chris Russell, North West’s regional director said: "Although we have cause for celebration because of the fast pace of improvement in the primary phase, there is still a journey ahead of us in raising the quality of provision in the region’s secondary schools. None of the key stakeholders involved in school improvement can afford to step back or be complacent. There are still 113,450 pupils attending secondary schools that either require improvement or have been judged inadequate. We need to draw on the very best practice in our primary schools and ensure that secondary leaders continue that strong trajectory from the very start of Year 7 in secondary schools."