Just why are the chances of going to a good Derby school so low?

BRITAIN'S education inspector has vowed to come to Derby and find out why children here have such a low chance of going to a good school.

Sir Michael Wilshaw's annual report, published yesterday, shows Derby is the second-worst performing of all local authority areas in terms of a pupil's chance of attending a good primary school.

The city is also in the bottom 20% of the table for the chances of a pupil attending a good secondary school.

Mr Wilshaw, chief inspector of Ofsted, said: "My statisticians tell me there's a problem with Derby. They are not doing well in terms of both primary and secondary schools.

"I don't have any personal links to Derby at all but I suspect I'll be going up there to find out what's happening."

The table of a child's chances of attending a primary school rated good or outstanding by Ofsted shows Derby got 43%, compared with top performer Camden, in London, at 92%.

In the report, Mr Wilshaw says: "Why is it that a child living in Derby or Doncaster local authority areas has only half the chance of attending a good or better primary or secondary school, compared with a child living in Wigan or Darlington?"

Derby City Council said improving the city's schools was a "political high priority".