SOUTHEND has the highest number of outstanding primary schools in the East of England.

Figures released in Ofsted's annual report today show that 94 per cent of the borough's primary schools were rated outstanding or good.

This is a rise of six per cent from 2018, and compares favourably to Luton's 75 per cent.

Southend also had the highest rate of improvement across the region, whereas in Bedford the proportion of good or outstanding schools declined by four percentage points compared with 2018.

REVEALED: Southend's primary schools ranked according to new figures

Thurrock was the second highest percentage at 92 per cent, which remained unchanged from last year.

Essex County Council's controlled schools were 90 per cent good or outstanding, a one per cent increase from last year.

With secondary schools, Southend had 75 per cent rated good or outstanding, no change from the previous year, while Essex had 84 per cent and Thurrock only had 60, a ten per cent drop.

Neil Houchen, head teacher of Eastwood Academy (pictured), which was rated outstanding last January, said: "I am, of course, very pleased to see Southend faring so well in Ofsted’s latest Annual Report.

"In terms of the 12 secondary schools in Southend, the 4 grammar schools are all currently rated as ‘outstanding’; however, I am particularly proud that The Eastwood Academy was also recently judged as ‘outstanding’ and is the only non-selective secondary school to hold this status.

"With a growing proportion of children in Southend receiving an outstanding education, this bodes well for these children and those following them."

Paul Brooker, Ofsted Director for the East of England, said: "This year’s annual report reflects the fact that social care and education provision in the East of England remain strong. Our region serves its pupils well. High quality early years settings ensure that children get off to a good start in the early years, and most of our primary and secondary schools are at least good too. In contrast, our further education and skills providers have had rather a mixed year, and still lag behind the national picture. Some colleges have improved to ‘good’, but some weaker colleges have shown little or no improvement.

"As always, the overall headlines mask some local variability. There have been inspection highs and lows, and real success stories where provision has been dramatically improved. Inspection outcomes in a locality tend to reflect standards, so it’s no surprise to see primary schools in Hertfordshire, Essex and Southend, for example, doing well, but primary school inspection outcomes in places like Bedford and Cambridgeshire still lagging behind.

"Inspection is, of course, not just about looking at exam results, and the circumstances of a school are reflected through all sorts of other information, such as pupil safety, attendance, exclusions and pupil mobility. Inspectors also listen carefully to the views of parents, staff and pupils. Since September, our sharper focus on the wider curriculum has been much better at assessing the overall quality of education in a school or college.

"As a region, we remain concerned about how well we support our most vulnerable pupils, particularly children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We still don’t do well enough here. For example, our area-wide inspections of special educational needs provision highlight significant weaknesses right across the region.

"Almost all the localities inspected in the last couple of years have been required to produce a written statement of action to set out how they will make better provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

"Overall, there has been lots to celebrate this year, most schools inspected since September – under the new framework – have been judged good, and a few, such as the Countess Anne Primary in Hertfordshire, have been judged outstanding.

"I am particularly pleased when schools facing the most challenging circumstances, like Murrayfield Primary which the Chief Inspector recently visited in Ipswich, work so hard to achieve a ‘good’ judgement.

"Looking ahead, I hope that these success stories will inspire others and make us rightly proud of what teachers and social care professional are doing for pupils, students and learners in our region."