LIVERPOOL education authority is to be inspected by the Office for Standards in Education in the spring because of ministers’ concerns about the lack of support being provided for schools.
The city has one of the highest number of failing schools in the country. Of the 13 failing schools, three are secondaries. The city also has 12 schools with serious weaknesses of which three are secondaries. Exam results are well below the national average. Fewer than a third of 16-year-olds achieve five or more higher grade GCSEs, compared with a national average of 45.1 per cent.
Estelle Morris, the standards minister, said the Government had concerns about aspects of the provision of school places and the authority’s support for schools in special measures.
Paul Clein, chair of education since May, said the new administration had set up a number of reviews of education and intended putting more money into schools.