Northamptonshire ranked in bottom 10 percent of primary school league tables

Data in the Ofsted annual report reveals that 74 percent of the primary schools in the county were ranked good or outstanding in 2014/15, placing it 138th out of the 152 local authority areas in the country.

For secondary schools, the council is ranked 128th, with 61 percent rated as good or outstanding.

The Ofsted report states that 43 per cent of the primary and 91 percent of the secondary schools in Northamptonshire are now academies.

The county council launched a new strategy earlier this year called Race to the Top, which aims to make Northamptonshire one of the best performing local authorities for education by 2020.

The council has invested £1 million in the project, which invites schools to bid for funding for ideas and schemes that will help raise academic standards.

A Northamptonshire County Council spokesman said the council was “concerned” about the performance of academy secondary schools.

The spokesman said: “Earlier this year we launched our Race To The Top strategy that is designed to challenge and support schools to improve performance.

“We have seen improvement in the performance of maintained schools, but we have concerns around particular secondary academies. We are therefore working closely with the Regional Schools Commissioner to address the under-performance of academies in Northamptonshire.”