Peterborough City Council leader vows review will improve education as city ranks second bottom in latest tables
In national league tables of primary school results, released this morning, Peterborough finished 151st out of 152. This is an improvement when compared to the unvalidated results, released in September - but a drop from a placing of 146th last year.
Councillor John Holdich, leader of the council and cabinet member for education, skills and university, said: “We are still waiting for the full data set to be released to us by the Department for Education, however it looks like we have made slight progress now the results have been validated.
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Hide Ad“We are pleased that there has been some improvement but clearly significant further work is needed and this is why we have commissioned an urgent review of education in Peterborough.
“This review, led by Councillor Lynne Ayers and John Harris, an expert in education with extensive experience, will begin in the new year to see if there is anything more this council can do to support our teachers and schools in their endeavours to raise attainment.
“I’ve taken this approach because Peterborough is one of the best areas in the region for schools judged good or outstanding by Ofsted; 91 per cent of primary school pupils go to good or outstanding schools in this city. However the attainment data shows this needs rapid improvement.
“Peterborough faces a unique set of challenges which, in turn, create significant issues for our teachers and schools. This includes the huge churn in our school population with large numbers of children starting school during the academic year after moving here from other areas and double the national average of pupils who don’t speak English as their first language.
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Hide Ad“Even though our role, as with all councils across the UK, in education has been significantly diminished by government we continue to work closely with schools and have developed an action plan to support schools in raising attainment. This plan will be reviewed by Councillor Ayres to ensure it’s as comprehensive as possible.
“I will leave no stone unturned to understand whether there is anything more this council can do to support our teachers and schools in raising attainment in this city.”