Parents will find out next month if their children will receive a place at their first-choice primary school in the school year starting in September 2023.
Figures from Ofsted show there are 2,415 state-funded primary schools - or 15% - currently holding the highest possible rating following their last inspection, including 62 in Merseyside (8%).
But it has been several years since many of the schools were graded - in some cases up to 17 years ago - mainly because outstanding primary and secondary schools were exempt from routine inspection between 2012 and 2020.
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Visits to schools from Ofsted inspectors were then paused for 18 months during the pandemic, but since routine inspections have resumed, Ofsted says it has inspected 370 formerly exempt primary and secondary schools and found that 83% were no longer “outstanding”.
Of previously exempt “outstanding” primary schools that have been inspected since the pandemic, Ofsted said it prioritised those that have gone longest without inspection, an average of 13 years.
It says very few of these were graded under the latest inspection framework that 'raised the bar' for an outstanding classification.
Ofsted said: “As a result, they are not typical of all exempt schools, and the pattern of inspection outcomes may change later. We will therefore continue this programme and will inspect all previously exempt outstanding schools by the end of July 2025."
The outstanding primary schools that have waited the longest for a fresh inspection were awarded the highest status in 2006.
But figures from Ofsted show that the majority of English primary schools are performing well.
In Merseyside three-quarters of state-funded primary schools are classed as “good” (75%), while around one in 13 schools “require improvement” (8%), and only one in 100 - a total of four schools - are currently rated “inadequate” (1%).
You can use our tool below to find the outstanding schools near where you live.
