Schools in Southwark show huge improvement

The majority of Southwark's primary, secondary and special schools are now judged "good" or "outstanding" by Ofsted.

Figures show that 72% of primary and secondary schools and 82% of special schools in the borough are now in this category.

In the secondary sector, local pupils are continuing to improve at GCSE and equivalent level with almost 60% of pupils this year achieving five or more A* to C grades including English and maths - making Southwark the second most improved borough in the country since 2006. In addition, 81.2% of pupils achieved five or more GCSEs in any subject beating the national average of 80.1%.

Southwark primary schools have also made significant improvements in national testing at the end of Year 6 and this year they exceeded the national average in all subjects. In 2011 76% of 11-year olds achieved level 4 in both English and maths compared to 74% nationally. Southwark is now ranked 48th nationally for combined English and maths compared to 128th four years ago.

Since September five primary schools have been inspected by Ofsted and judged to be "outstanding." Twenty local primary schools (29% in total) are now judged outstanding overall.

News of Southwark's improving schools follows the publication of Ofsted's annual performance assessment of services for children and young people in the borough.

Inspectors declared that the council's children's services department was now "performing well" and scored it three out of four overall.

The report said: "The large majority of all services, settings and institutions are now good or better and the very large majority are good at helping children and young people to stay safe and enjoy their learning."

The report confirmed the improvement in Southwark's schools with inspectors highlighting the strong progress in the quality of primary and secondary schools with most now judged to be "good or better".

Elsewhere, nursery and early years provision is also improving strongly. Provisional Early Years results for 2011 show 64% of five-years-olds in Southwark are reaching a good level of development. Southwark was better than London and national levels on this measure - 59% nationally and 60% in London.

This improvement is also reflected by Oftsed inspection results which show that over 75% of Early Years foundation settings in nursery and primary schools in Southwark are rated good or outstanding. This year's performance improvement has seen Southwark move from 42nd to 23rd in the national rankings.

Noting the rise in standards, the report said: "The overall effectiveness of secondary provision, both local authority maintained schools and academies, is improving with the large majority now being good or better."

Ofsted also praised the council's robust child protection and looked after services. Fostering and adoption were judged to be "good overall" while Southwark's children's home was marked "outstanding". The majority of special schools were at least "good" while the care, guidance and support they offered young people was judged to be particularly strong, the report said.

Catherine McDonald, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "I'm delighted that schools in Southwark have made such a great improvement and I would like to congratulate both pupils and staff for all their hard work in achieving such impressive results.

"It is a fantastic achievement and demonstrates our commitment to help give children and young people in Southwark the best possible start in life to enable them to pursue their ambitions and goals.

"I am particularly pleased at the continued improvement in early years as it shows that our decision to fund provision for disadvantaged two-year-olds, after the government withdrew funding, is bearing fruit.

"However, we are not complacent as there is always room for improvement and we will take on board Ofsted's wider recommendations to ensure that we continue to deliver first class children's services and education throughout the borough."