Secondary schools in Merton have some of the lowest rated standards in London, according to a new report by Ofsted.

In its annual report for the 2012/13 financial year, Ofsted placed Merton 31st out of 32 London boroughs for the standard of its secondary schools and 100th out of all local authorities in the UK.

Primary schools fared better placed at 19th in London and 54th in the UK.

Despite Merton's secondary schools scoring low within London, as a whole the capital was praised for its rising education standards with inspection outcomes the best in the country.

Of the nine local authorities in England where every secondary school was judged good or outstanding, seven are in the capital while 11 of the 32 London boroughs are in the top 20 of all local authorities for the quality of primary schools - 14 in the top 20 per cent.

Councillor Martin Whelton, cabinet member for education, defended the ranking saying that since analysis for the report was carried out standards in Merton had improved with 84 per cent of schools in Merton now rated good or outstanding.

He said: "Sherwood, Hatfeild and Merton Abbey were three schools that went up a great deal.

"In terms of secondary schools only one of our secondary schools is not rated good or outstanding.

"All of Merton's secondary schools, except for Raynes Park, have gone up this year with Wimbledon College and Rutlish going from notice to improve to good.

"We are obviously very pleased about that but we are not complacent and continue to strive to get all our schools up to good or outstanding because we believe that children come first."

He added: "We have a lot of improvement and over the course of the next year we hope to see further improvements and I’m confident that schools will deliver.

"We are also delighted that St Mark’s Primary has been rated as one of the 10 best schools in London.

"But we are not afraid to go down the academy route.

"We have done it for secondary schools and we will do it for primary schools as well."

 

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