BOROUGH schools received a mixed report with good primary performances but a “could do better” warning for secondary education.

Government watchdogs Ofsted’s latest figures put Dudley in the bottom three for good or outstanding secondary schools in the West Midlands and 127th out of 148 local authorities in England with just 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.

Stourbridge MP Margot James said she was "concerned" by the figures but added: "I think there are historic reasons why both Thorns Community College and Pedmore Technology College have not yet upped to the standard we would all wish to see.

"You can't turn a school around over night but you can make a lot of headway quite quickly if you are really determined and have the support of staff and parents behind you."

And she went on to praise Ridgewood headteacher Clive Nutting for steering the Wollaston school to a recent good Ofsted rating - adding: "The school's done well and there are quite a lot of really good extra curricular activities going on including the Project Gambia initiative."

The Conservative MP added that she thought schools could do more to encourage average to bright pupils to aim higher - adding: "There are students who are getting Ds and Cs who should be getting As and A*s who the current system still lets down."

Primary schools fared better in the Ofsted report and showed 84 per cent of borough pupils are now attending good or outstanding schools - 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.

Ms James said: "It's good news at primary level. Government reforms have had a really good effect. Many children are leaving primary school with improved literacy and numerical skills."

Councillor Tim Crumpton, Dudley's cabinet member for children’s services, said the report showed "improvements here which are bigger than most places across the country".

He added: "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.”