By Richard Guttridge
Copyright birminghammail
Ofsted has published its latest ratings after visiting schools across the West Midlands. It comes as kids have gone back to school for the start of the new academic year. The education watchdog tends to publish reports a few months after its visits, with the latest round of inspections having been carried out before the summer break. READ MORE: UK motorists with a blue badge issued warning over ‘common’ mistake Get our local newsletters like Black Country News, MySolihull and MySuttonColdfield straight to your inbox It comes ahead of big changes to the way Ofsted grades schools before the end of the year. Latest inspection results have now been published for the public to view. They included five schools in Birmingham and one in Stourbridge and are listed below. Myles Academy in Handsworth received glowing praise and the top coveted rating of outstanding – putting it among the top schools in the West Midlands. Story Wood School in Perry Common was also hailed as outstanding in three out of five areas. It wasn’t such good news for Belle Vue Primary in Stourbridge, which was told it needs to make improvements across the board. State schools are no longer given one-word grades by Ofsted, though independent schools still are. Ofsted rates state schools in the following areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management – as well as early years provision for primaries. Latest West Midlands Ofsted ratings It comes ahead of a major shake-up of how schools are graded by Ofsted, following long-standing concerns over single-word grades which many heads feel were often unfair and damaging. New colour-coded, so-called Nando’s-style report cards will be made available for parents to view. An “exceptional” rating will be the highest of five grades to be awarded across six different inspection areas, the Guardian reports.
