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The Government’s inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) concluded that Derbyshire is a good local education authority which has many strengths. Unusually Ofsted made no key recommendations for improvement.

Authorities are marked on a scale from one to seven, with one being very good and seven very poor. Derbyshire received a level two ‘good’ rating, an improvement of one grade since the last inspection in 2000. None of the 14 councils inspected so far have received the top rating. Areas picked out for praise include:

• The authority placing education as a major priority
• Pupils attainment continuing to improve, especially at key stage one
• Support services being well focused on school improvement
• Priorities for improvements in education being focused on areas of greatest need and supported by well targeted resources

Councillor Alan Charles, Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “We are delighted with the report, which shows we are a first rate authority where standards in schools are rising, the quality of leadership and support provided to schools by Derbyshire County Council is a particular strength and the overall standard of education in the community continues to get better.

“It is very pleasing that the Ofsted team commented on the very strong relationships between Derbyshire County Council and our schools. This confirms our strong view that the delivery of high quality education to young people is a partnership between us and Derbyshire schools.

“The report found no unsatisfactory areas of performance and over half of all the areas inspected were found to be good. However, we are not complacent and already have plans in place to ensure there is a continuous improvement.”

Inspectors found “highly satisfactory progress” in all areas identified as needing improvement in the 2000 inspection. Support for special educational needs has improved by two grades from satisfactory to good, ICT provision in schools went up by two grades from unsatisfactory to highly satisfactory and support for school governors and the provision of property services both rose by one grade from unsatisfactory to satisfactory.

Councillor Charles added: “The report is a tribute to the highly skilled, dedicated and hard working staff of Derbyshire County Council and particularly to the excellent leadership of Roger Taylor, the chief education officer.”

To improve further Ofsted has made seven recommendations. These include

• Taking action to appoint more LEA governors to bring the authority in line with national averages
• Reducing the number of exclusions of pupils with special educational needs
• Improving the action plan for shaping education and training opportunities for 14 to 19 year-olds

Lead inspector Brian Blake said: “There is a keen determination at Derbyshire County Council to improve further, especially in areas that support the most vulnerable pupils. The capacity of the authority to improve is good.

“The very good working relationships between Derbyshire County Council and its schools result in a service that monitors and challenges schools in an effective way.

“Derbyshire County Council has continued to make small but important gains in increasing the gap between its performance and national averages in many areas.”

The inspection took place over eight days in September and October 2004.

Read the full report below.

You may also like to find out about school standards.