One in eight local authority schools on government’s “forced academy” list currently rated “good” by Ofsted

More than one in eight schools which are on the government’s list to be forced into academies are in that position despite having been rated “good” by Ofsted at their last full inspection, exclusive new analysis by Education Uncovered reveals today.

Some eight out of the 61 schools currently known to be in the official Department for Education “pipeline” for academy conversion have been given the inspectorate’s second-highest rating – raising questions for sceptics as to why they need to be put through the often protracted process of becoming academies.

The news comes with two local authority schools, both of which were previously adjudged less than good, moved off the government’s list in recent weeks having secured a “good” judgment from inspectors in inspections this term. A third school was quietly moved off the “pipeline” this term having been rated “good” last year.

The data seem to raise questions over the logic of successful institutions continuing to stay on this list, while the fact that some schools have managed to get an academy order revoked– after one of them won a High Court battle against the Department for Education this summer– may raise hope that such a situation can be resisted.

Jamie Barry, head of Yew Tree primary in Walsall, West Midlands, which has come off the government’s list after winning that High Court battle but then having to justify its progress in an Ofsted inspection, told Education Uncovered that the case may have set a precedent for other schools winning similar struggles, though he added that the government may now be intensifying its push of institutions towards academy status in other ways.

The analysis