Press release

Ofsted reports to Suffolk County Council after inspections

Following focused inspections of 33 Suffolk schools in September 2013, Ofsted has written to Suffolk County Council with its findings.

The focused inspections are part of a concerted programme of action by Ofsted to establish why children in some parts of the country have a much lower chance of attending a good or better school than their peers in other similar areas.

The schools were inspected during the focused inspection period 9–20 September, including: 23 primary schools; seven secondary schools; one community special school; and two pupil referral units (PRUs). The schools were all due for inspection by the end of this academic year.

During the inspections, Ofsted also gathered information on the use, quality and impact of local authority support for school improvement by asking three additional key questions of headteachers and governors.

The letter sent to Suffolk County Council has been published online.

  1. The letter to Suffolk County Council will be published on the Ofsted website at 08:00 on Thursday 7 November.

  2. Ofsted announced the first wave of focused school inspections across local authority areas, where children are being denied the standard of education they deserve, on 17 January 2013. The press release is available on the Ofsted website.

  3. Local authority areas were selected for the focused school inspection programme that took place during the spring 2013 term on the basis of the relative proportion of children attending good or better primary schools, as set out in the last Ofsted Annual Report, and Ofsted data on the proportion of children attending good or better secondary schools, as well as any relevant inspection evidence gathered during the autumn 2012 term. These are standard section 5 inspections, which were scheduled to take place this academic year and include all types of schools – although the majority will be primary schools.

  4. The most recent published data shows that in Suffolk, 30% of primary schools are not yet ‘good’.

  5. Ofsted’s Annual Report is available online.

Media enquiries

Clive House
70 Petty France
London
SW1H 9EX

Email pressenquiries@ofsted.gov.uk

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm 0300 013 0415

Out of hours duty press officer 07919 057 359

Published 7 November 2013