Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – May 2019
The proportion of pupils in schools that are graded good or better remains in the third quartile. The change how some inspections were scheduled since January 2018 has seen a significant increase in how many inspections the number of inspections. The new School Effectiveness Strategy has enhanced the robustness of preparing school leadership to withstand external scrutiny. These recent increase in the proportion of pupils in good or better schools is symptomatic of improved KS2 and KS1 results and a more rigorous approach to school improvement and preparing schools for inspection taken in the new School Effectiveness Strategy.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increase slightly to 85.8%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year and is at it's highest rate in the last two years.
For May, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 84%; Secondary School pupils = 87.9%; Special School pupils = 96.0%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – April 2019
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has remained the same to 85%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year and is at it's highest rate in the last two years.
For April, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.3%; Secondary School pupils = 86.9%; Special School pupils = 96.0%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools - March 2019
The proportion of pupils in schools that are graded good or better remains in the third quartile. The change how some inspections were scheduled since January 2018 has seen a significant increase in the number of inspections. The new School Effectiveness Strategy has enhanced the robustness of preparing school leadership to withstand external scrutiny. These recent increases in the proportion of pupils in good or better schools is symptomatic of improved KS2 and KS1 results and a more rigorous approach to school improvement and preparing schools for inspection taken in the new School Effectiveness Strategy.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has slightly decreased to 85%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year and is at it's highest rate in the last two years.
For March, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.3%; Secondary School pupils = 86.9%; Special School pupils = 96%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools - February 2019
The proportion of pupils in schools that are graded good or better remains in the third quartile. The change how some inspections were scheduled since January 2018 has seen a significant increase in how many inspections the number of inspections. The new School Effectiveness Strategy has enhanced the robustness of preparing school leadership to withstand external scrutiny. These recent increase in the proportion of pupils in good or better schools is symptomatic of improved KS2 and KS1 results and a more rigorous approach to school improvement and preparing schools for inspection taken in the new School Effectiveness Strategy. 
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased to 86.2%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year and is at it's highest rate in the last two years. 
For February, the percentage for each school phase is as follows: 
Primary School pupils = 85.5%; Secondary School pupils = 86.8%; Special School pupils = 96.4%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – January 2019
For January, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.9%; Secondary School pupils = 86.8%; Special School pupils = 96.4%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – December 2018 
The proportion of pupils in schools that are graded good or better remains in the third quartile. The change how some inspections were scheduled since January 2018 has seen a significant increase in how many inspections. The new School Effectiveness Strategy has enhanced the robustness of preparing school leadership to withstand external scrutiny. These recent increase in the proportion of pupils in good or better schools is symptomatic of improved KS2 and KS1 results and a more rigorous approach to school improvement and preparing schools for inspection taken in the new School Effectiveness Strategy. 
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 85.3%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year. 
For December, the percentage for each school phase is as follows: 
Primary School pupils = 83.9%; Secondary School pupils = 86.8%; Special School pupils = 96.4%
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 85.3%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year. 
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – November 2018
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 85.3%. This figure is slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year.
For November, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.9%
Secondary School pupils = 86.8%
Special School pupils = 96.4%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – October 2018
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 84.8%. This figure is only slightly higher than the figures shown in the 2017/18 academic year.
For October, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.4%
Secondary School pupils = 86.4%
Special School pupils = 96.1%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – September 2018
The proportion of good or better schools and pupils in good or better schools continues to rise, however, in the last quarter recent gains have not been sustained. Early indications are that improvement will start again in the next quarter.
The proportion of good or better secondary schools and similarly for primary schools has not altered during this quarter.
However, there are slightly more pupils attending good or better secondary or primary schools in West Sussex.
We have seen a significant rise in how many schools are inspected over the year. The long-term trend remains upwards for how many pupils and schools are good or better, though this varies between months.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 84.4%. This figure is far higher than the figures shown in the 2016/17 academic year.
For September, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 82.8%
Secondary School pupils = 86.2%
Special School pupils = 96.1%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – July 2018
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has decreased slightly to 83.8%. This figure is far higher than the figures shown in the 2016/17 academic year.
For July, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 81.8%
Secondary School pupils = 86.2%
Special School pupils = 96.1%
Performance of West Sussex Pupils in Schools – June 2018
Since June 2017 about 4,000 more children and young people are in at least a good school in West Sussex. We have seen a significant rise in how many schools are inspected over the year. The trend remains upwards for how many pupils and schools are good or better, though this varies between months.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has decreased slightly to 84.1%. This figure is far higher than the figures shown in the 2016/17 academic year.
For June, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 82.4%
Secondary School pupils = 86.1%
Special School pupils = 95.8%
May 2018 performance
The Local Authority is committed to ensuring that all pupils in the county attend a good or outstanding school and the Education and Skills service is working with schools and partners towards this outcome. Where it is considered that a school is under performing, or at risk of under performing, it continues to target these schools, and will work alongside the school to either improve their rating at the next inspection, or to help them to ensure that they remain good. The Education and Skills service has a positive track record of supporting these schools.
Performance is measured monthly based on the published outcomes of Ofsted inspections of West Sussex schools including academies and free schools.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 85.0%. This figure is far higher than the figures shown in the 2016/17 academic year.
For May, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
  • Primary School pupils = 82.7%
  • Secondary School pupils = 87.8%
  • Special School pupils = 95.8%

 April 2018 performance
Since April 2015 the percentage of schools judged to be good or outstanding has generally improved month-on-month from 75% to 84% in October 2017.
The West Sussex Strategy for School Improvement, introduced in April 2016, has contributed to increasing the proportion of pupils taught in West Sussex schools that are judged as good or outstanding.
The total for West Sussex pupils attending schools that are judged good or outstanding has increased slightly to 84.3%. This figure is higher than the figures shown in the 2016/17 academic year.
For April, the percentage for each school phase is as follows:
Primary School pupils = 83.2%
Secondary School pupils = 85.3%
Special School pupils = 95.8%

Background 

Understanding Ofsted reports

Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) is a government department that inspects and regulates educational institutions. All schools are inspected as part of a cycle of inspection with inadequate and RI (Requires Improvement) schools being inspected within two years and good schools every three years. Outstanding schools are not routinely inspected.

After the inspection, Ofsted publishes a public report that contains information on the school’s performance.Inspectors make key judgements on the following areas:

  • overall effectiveness
  • effectiveness of leadership and management
  • quality of teaching, learning and assessment
  • personal development, behaviour and welfare
  • outcomes for pupils

Judgements are made using a four-point scale:

  • grade 1 - Outstanding
  • grade 2 - Good
  • grade 3 - Requires Improvement
  • grade 4 – Inadequate

In judging overall effectiveness, inspectors will take account of the four key judgements. Inspectors should first make the key judgements on:

  • the quality of teaching, learning and assessment
  • personal development, behaviour and welfare
  • outcomes for pupils

Changes in the proportion of pupils attending good and outstanding schools are dependent the number of pupils in schools that are inspected and move into good or outstanding categories from Requires Improvement or Inadequate. There can also be considerable variations in the length of time taken for reports to be published after an inspection.

The West Sussex Strategy for School Improvement, introduced during 2016, and including more regular visits by advisers to all schools, has contributed to increasing the number and proportion of West Sussex schools that are good or outstanding.