An education chief admits improvement is “necessary” in Haringey’s schools after an Ofsted report revealed more than a third of its pupils are not receiving a good or outstanding education. 

The report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, released on Tuesday, claims only 58 per cent of Haringey pupils attend primary schools rated good or satisfactory by school inspectors Ofsted - the third lowest out of all authorities in London.

Haringey Borough Council’s cabinet member for children, Councillor Ann Waters, admitted work needs to be done to improve Haringey’s schools, but continued to sing the praises of education in the borough.

The Labour politician said: "We know further improvement is necessary and we’re not complacent about this.

“Our independent education commission is set to recommend radical proposals early next year, which are designed to accelerate the pace of school improvement across the borough and they will feed into the council’s overall strategy and vision for education in the borough.”

Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, announced in January his plans to scrap the satisfactory judgement for school inspections.

The proposals, if passed, will mean that any school that does not provide a good standard of education will be given a new 'requires improvement' grade.

Cllr Waters said the authority will soon work with a larger group of educational partners – including academy sponsors and free schools – to compete with the best schools in the country and provide young children with “great educational opportunities” and the chance to “move ahead” in their lives.

The politician, who represents Woodside, added: “A new school improvement service, under new leadership, will add to this momentum early in 2013 and a managed programme of school-to-school support is already ensuring that we spread good practice across the borough and learn from elsewhere.”

Haringey is listed as the 18th worst authority in the UK for providing its pupils with a good or oustanding education - a stark contrast to Camden, which is at the top of the chart with 92 per cent.  

However, Cllr Waters said Haringey’s children and young people are “bucking national trends” and improving year on year while achieving the best exam and test results ever achieved in Haringey.

She also said for the tenth year running, the borough has improved on previous years’ GCSE results, with more students than ever achieving five or more A* to C grades, including English and Maths, and “fantastic progress” has been made at A-Level.