It is interesting that Councillor Foley’s response to the Education Ofsted Report seems to come to the conclusion that rather than Swindon Secondary Schools requiring improvement, it is the Ofsted Inspectors who need to “catch up with the Government’s academy process”.

Councillor Foley clearly feels the Government’s academy programme is a success which rather flies in the face of the evidence, since in Swindon our primary schools are generally doing well, despite them largely remaining within the control of the local authority.

It is in the secondary sector, in contrast, where all the schools are academies apart from one, where the results are far less good, leading to only 50 per cent of our children attending good enough schools, and with Swindon ranking below the national average on many indicators and in the bottom quarter of local authorities in some important indicators.

We might be more encouraged if the council’s lead member showed some humility at the number of young people being failed within the borough’s education system, rather than shooting the messenger by challenging government inspectors to better understand the academy process.

Cindy Matthews (Councillor) Lydiard & Freshbrook Shadow Spokesperson for Children’s Services Swindon