24/25 Ofsted Annual Report: North East schools face acute challenges
The Ofsted Annual Report 2024/25 (published 2 December) highlights longstanding and deepening challenges in schools across England, with – unsurprisingly – attendance, behaviour, and SEND identified as key issues.
As Schools North East has long highlighted, these challenges are especially acute in the North East, where deprivation, poor child health, and rising SEND needs combine to create a unique and pressing context for education.
Inclusion and disadvantage: The central issue
Ofsted’s report frames inclusion and disadvantage as the core drivers of educational outcomes across all phases. The gap between disadvantaged children and their peers begins early and widens over time, with significant consequences for learning, wellbeing, and progression.
Evidence from the report shows that disadvantaged pupils are “three times more likely to be severely absent” and “five times more likely to be permanently excluded.”
In the North East, these gaps are even more stark. Only 43 percent of FSM-eligible boys achieve a Good Level of Development (GLD) at age five, reflecting early language delays, low school readiness, and wider health inequalities.
Persistent absence remains significantly above the national average, driven by chronic ill-health, unmet mental health needs, and unstable family circumstances—factors that disproportionately affect disadvantaged boys.
Attendance, behaviour, and context
The report recognises that attendance and behaviour are strongly linked to context, which Schools North East has repeatedly emphasised. In our region, schools face the worst combination of socioeconomic disadvantage and overstretched support services. Rates of absence and behavioural challenges are the highest in the country, highlighting – yet again – the need for contextualised approaches to education, wellbeing, and intervention.
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, commented: “The Ofsted report confirms what schools in the North East have long known: disadvantage, deprivation, and unmet need are shaping children’s experiences from the very start.
“Our region faces some of the most entrenched inequalities in the country, and we must continue to push for contextual support, early intervention, and revitalised services around schools.”
Rising SEND needs and pressures on services
While it’s apparent that SEND provision is struggling nationwide, in the North East it’s under extreme pressure. FSM-eligible boys are nearly twice as likely to be identified with SEND, and suspensions have doubled since 2014/15, with 83 percent of suspensions involving pupils with SEND.
Long EHCP delays, shortages in specialist services, and workforce gaps in SEND, educational psychology, CAMHS, and other specialist roles leave significant needs unmet. Schools are operating in a fragmented system, with a decade of lost early years infrastructure further weakening support for children and families.
Structural and funding challenges
Structural funding and demographic pressures exacerbate the region’s challenges. The North East is projected to experience the steepest decline in primary rolls nationally, reducing school budgets and limiting capacity for early intervention. Moreover, the National Funding Formula does not sufficiently account for persistent, concentrated disadvantage, leaving schools under-resourced relative to need and widening the North–South divide.
The combination of funding pressures, workforce shortages, and rising SEND demand means that schools are under enormous strain to meet the needs of their communities, while local services such as social care, health, and educational psychology struggle to provide timely support.
Calls for targeted support
The report and research underline the need for targeted interventions for vulnerable pupils, particularly white working-class boys, who have the worst progression rates in the North East. Initiatives such as the Transition Guarantee and Youth Guarantee pilots outlined in the ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper are essential.
Chris Zarraga added: “We must keep the North East context front and centre. Until policy and funding match the scale of need, our schools will continue to carry the weight of systemic disadvantage. We sincerely hope that the White Paper, which is expected early next year, will offer some clarity and relief, but we need immediate action to support children, families, and communities.”
Keeping context on the radar
As the year draws to a close, Schools North East stresses the importance of keeping context at the heart of policy and practice. As we outlined in the 2024 Schools North East Manifesto for Education, recognising the scale of the North East’s contextual challenges is a matter of urgency, and if the government is serious about tackling long-term disadvantage and lack of opportunities, then it must prioritise these perennial issues.
Persistent absence, behaviour challenges, SEND pressures, and entrenched disadvantage will not resolve without targeted investment, early intervention, and revitalised services around schools. Only by addressing these structural inequalities and contextual pressures can the North East ensure that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to thrive.
For every child, for every school, for the future of our region.