THE poor performance of secondary schools in the North-East, Yorkshire and Humber remains the biggest challenge facing the region, according to Ofsted.

With our secondary schools at the bottom of the league in England – in terms of the proportion rated as good or better - Ofsted said the region’s children and young people “deserve better.”

The report by regional director Nick Hudson coincided with a national report by the Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw.

In his third report Sir Michael raised concerns about the future of England’s secondary education system, suggesting that standards are stalling and low-level disruption by pupils was affecting too many classes.

A year ago Sir Michael concluded that England’s schools were improving at a faster rate than ever.

Twelve months on, primary schools in England continue to forge ahead, with 82 per cent rated as good or better and around 700,000 more pupils attending a decent primary than in 2012.

But the rate of improvement in secondary education is grinding to a halt and the overall proportion rated good or outstanding remains the same as last year at 71 per cent.

Mr Hudson also warned warned that the North-East, Yorkshire and Humber “is not well placed to ensure adequate numbers of high-quality newly qualified teachers to the profession, particularly for schools in the most challenging circumstances.”

However Mr Hudson acknowledged there had been some improvements in the region’s primary schools , with 30,000 more pupils attending primary schools that are good or better than this time last year.

The Ofsted regional director said the number of good and outstanding further education colleges in the region is well above the national level and there is a high proportion of outstanding providers.

Ofsted’s priorities for next year are to help increase the proportion of good and outstanding schools, raise expectations for all children and young people, whatever their background and narrow the attainment gap, said Mr Hudson Among the ‘outstanding ‘ North-East schools and colleges singled out for praise for Ofsted was Carmel College in Darlington and SW Durham Training at Newton Aycliffe.

Regional league tables based on the percentage of pupils attending good or outstanding primary schools in the region showed that most North-East areas saw modest increases - County Durham moving up six points to 89 per cent and Stockton moving up seven points to 91 per cent.

But Darlington, which topped the national primary league table last years, slipped down six points to 91 per cent.

In the secondary sector County Durham moved up two points to 88 per cent while Darlington slipped back 20 points down to 54 per cent. Stockton also slumped by 16 points down to 46 per cent.