Fifty-five failing schools in London

London has the largest number of failing schools in England and the trend is on the rise, figures revealed today.

Education watchdog Ofsted said 55 of the capital's state schools were so poor at the end of the summer term last year that they had two options: improve or face closure.

In findings that will concern parents across the city, the number of failing schools jumped by 37.5 per cent, from 40 to 55 in one term.

This is the first time that an official picture has been issued of the poor performance of London schools relative to other regions of England.

Ofsted said that because the regional breakdown of failure is so new, it cannot produce comparable figures for the previous year.

But analysis of the schools in "special measures" - Ofsted's term for those that are failing - shows that there were 40 primaries, secondaries and pupil referral units (PRUs), to which children who have been expelled are sent, in that category on 9 April last year.

The summer term then saw 15 more schools added to the failing list in London. Ofsted refused to name the current failing schools. But of the 55, 32 were primaries, 18 secondaries, two special schools and one was a PRU.

The proportion of London schools in the failure category was 2.3 per cent.

Again, this was the highest in England. Only Yorkshire and the Humber, on two per cent, came close to London.

In contrast, only 0.6 per cent of schools in the North-East were judged to be failing last year.

Nationally, a total of 332 schools were failing at the end of the summer 2004 term, or 1.5 per cent of the total in the state sector.

Many headteachers blame a tougher inspection regime by Ofsted for the sharp rise in failing schools last year.

In September 2003, Ofsted halved the proportion of lessons that have to be unsatisfactory to trigger a judgment that a school needs special measures from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. This angered teachers but Ofsted chief inspector, David Bell, said the change was justified because if one lesson in five was unacceptably poor quality, that was too high.

Today, he also published the latest termly figures on failing schools. They showed that, nationally, the proportion may be starting to fall.

By the end of March this year, the number of failing schools in England as a whole had dropped to 285 from 314.

Mr Bell said: "I applaud the pupils, teachers and governors in these schools for their hard work."

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said the number of failing schools was rising in every region of England. He admitted: "London has more challenging schools than elsewhere." However, he said: "Exam results in London are now above those in many other English cities."