Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, responding to the school performance tables published today, said:

“While I celebrate those schools that are performing well and I applaud teachers and others working tirelessly to get the grades, it is deeply concerning that a quarter of a million pupils are in failing secondary schools, and alarmingly the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has grown for the third year in a row. The attainment gap is now bigger than when David Cameron took office in 2010. 

"Without a doubt we need to support excellent teaching and leadership in all our schools to drive up standards. Yet with chronic shortages of teachers, mounting pressure on school places forcing more and more children into larger class sizes, and a growing inequality in our education system, it is increasingly clear that the Tories are failing on education, harming our country’s future success.”