DUDLEY received a mixed school report with good primary performance but “could do better” for secondary education.

Government watchdogs Ofsted’s latest figures show the borough in the bottom three for good or outstanding secondary schools in the West Midlands and 127th out of 148 local authorities in England with 55 per cent of pupils attending schools ranked good or outstanding.

Nationally 74 per cent of pupils attend good or outstanding secondary schools and 71 per cent of schools are rated good or outstanding.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin said: “This report underlines the need for all of us – the government and the council, teachers and parents, employers and the community in general – to make education and skills our number one priority.

“We have to get behind teachers working hard to improve schools. Improvements at Priory School, Ellowes Hall and at Dormston show our youngsters can do just as well as any in the country, but standards need to improve.”

Primary schools fared better, 84 per cent of pupils in Dudley borough are now attending good or outstanding schools which is an improvement of 12 per cent on last year.

The borough is 60th in the English league table for primary schools with the national average standing at 71 per cent for pupils at good or outstanding schools.

Councillor Tim Crumpton, Dudley cabinet member for children’s services, said: “This is really good news for schools, teachers, parents and children in the Dudley borough as we have seen improvements here which are bigger than most places across the country.

“We will continue to work hard with our schools to make even more improvements to ensure the primary provision continues to excel and we will work to build on the standards in our secondary schools where more than half of students are already attending good or outstanding schools.”