SECONDARY school head teachers’ jobs will be on the line if they do not raise standards, the Star has been told, after an annual Ofsted report for on the quality of high school education ranked St Helens 148th out of 150 in England.

The statistics show just 35 per cent of pupils locally attend a secondary school that is good or outstanding and underline the concerns surrounding the issue which this newspaper has campaigned to highlight throughout 2014.

It marks a 12 per cent reduction on last year’s 47 per cent and, while the performance of primary schools continues to be positive with 89 per cent of pupils attending good or outstanding schools, it reinforces worries that bright pupils are not taught well enough when they step up up to senior school.

The figure at secondary level shows St Helens lagging behind neighbouring boroughs, with Warrington having 68 per cent of its pupils at a good or outstanding school and Knowsley, Wigan and Liverpool all on 77 per cent.

Only Cowley, Haydock and Rainhill High received a ranking of good in their most recent inspections and the borough does not have one mainstream school rated outstanding.

The poorest performers are the two academies at Sutton and Hope, in Newton-le-Willows, with the latter’s troubles chronicled in the Star this year. 

Academies stand outside local authority control, though it is understood senior councillors would relish the chance to have greater influence should they be given the green light to flex their muscles by the Department of Education.

But Ofsted’s findings also put school heads under the microscope and that will intensify when St Helens Council’s recently appointed School Commissioner Phil Fitzpatrick chairs his first meeting in January.

Some Star readers say they felt “ashamed” to see St Helens’ position in the table and council leader Barrie Grunewald said this week there would be a no-nonsense approach.

He said: “If the heads are not up to the task then clearly they will have to move on.” 

Cllr Grunewald stressed that where the local education authority has worked rigorously alongside schools there have been improvements, citing St Augustine’s and St Cuthberts as examples. 

Andy Dempsey, director of children and young people’s services at St Helens Council, who is also likely to face increased scrutiny, said:  “We are working intensively with schools to improve.”

He added that the borough’s  secondary schools are currently above national averages for five GCSEs A* to C including English and maths: “We expect this position to improve further over the coming years and that the judgements of the regulator will improve accordingly.”