Havering’s secondary schools are the second worst performing in London, a shocking new Ofsted report has revealed.

Published today (Weds), the education watchdog’s Education, Children’s Services and Skills Annual Report reveals that just 63pc of Havering’s secondary schools were rated good or outstanding as of August 31.

Only Lewisham, with 57pc, has performed worse this year.

And the borough’s children are also progressing at a slower rate than the national average.

Havering’s Progress 8 figures, which detail how much a child improves between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4, are the joint second worse in London, alongside Bexley on -0.04.

Only Greenwich performed worse.

These were the only three boroughs across the capital to perform below England’s average of -0.03 in the last 12 months.

However, there is some good news.

Havering’s primary schools are the joint most improved in the city, with an eight percent improvement in the number of schools rated good or outstanding, meaning 92pc of the borough’s young children are in highly rated institutions.

Mike Sheridan, Ofsted London Regional Director, said: “The capital has its fair share of challenges, including schools, children’s homes and local authorities where young people are not well served – there remains too much variation in performance between the London boroughs.

“We want to see all children in London receiving high quality education and care – regardless of the area they live in.”

Mr Sheridan also pointed out that education across the city is currently going through a period of “significant change”.

He continued: “In some instances, we have seen weaker providers subsumed by good or outstanding colleges.

“I hope this will be a catalyst for improvement across the whole of these new organisations. This is not guaranteed, however.

“We will be watching carefully to make sure that where weaker provision has become part of something bigger, the new institution focuses on this necessary improvement.”

Havering Council’s cabinet member for children and learning, Robert Benham, admitted he was disappointed with the performance of the borough’s secondary schools but insisted there were positives.

He said: “Havering Council welcomes the publication of the Ofsted annual report for London, and is delighted that the significant work in the early years and primary sector is being recognised.

“We’re particularly pleased that Havering had the highest rate of improvement across the region (eight percentage points), when looking at the primary school inspections judged good or outstanding.

“While it was disappointing the secondary sector did not perform so well on the same measure, it should be acknowledged that Havering saw a big improvement (seven percentage points) when compared to 2016, whereas a number of other London local authorities saw a large decrease.

“It’s also important to recognise the majority of secondary schools in Havering (16 out of 18) are academy schools, and not run by the council.

“We hope an Improvement Board, established earlier in the year, will result in better outcomes for all pupils.

“We continue to work closely with the Regional Schools Commissioner and local schools to increase standards and performance in Secondary Schools.”