Revealed: the schools which escaped academisation following “requires improvement” Ofsted judgements

Eight schools have had academy orders revoked by the government and been allowed to remain with their local authorities, having previously failed an inspection but then risen to be rated “requires improvement,” Education Uncovered has learnt.

The finding, based on data presented in a Parliamentary answer and through Ofsted, is significant because it underlines how schools facing forced academisation can escape such a fate – if ministers choose – based on inspection verdicts one up from “inadequate” on the inspectorate’s four-point scale.

It contradicts a statement by the local Conservative MP for the Barclay School, Stevenage – which is one of the highest-profile forced academisation cases at the moment – that previously-failing schools need to be rated “good” by Ofsted to have any chance of remaining with their local authorities.

The detail

Education Uncovered, which has looked at statistics on academy revocations before, this time analysed a Parliamentary written answer to Labour peer Lord Watson, who had asked a question on the subject last October.