Parents considering which schools to send their children to in a few months’ time will want to check a new interactive map showing the worst-rated in the UK.
Mums and dads have until April 16 to confirm their youngsters’ places for the next academic year.
One of the key considerations may be the ratings handed down by inspectors from Ofsted, with 295 in England being flagged as inadequate over the last two years.
Some were said to have shown serious weaknesses and been placed in special measures, according to the Ofsted data showing inspections carried out from May 2021, as the country began to recover from the pandemic.
The country’s worst rated from that time can now be easily looked at via our interactive map.
While Ofsted inspectors may not yet have revisited schools since the last ratings, individual establishments may be taking measures to improve their standards as required by the watchdog.
The revelations come as ministers are set to miss primary school targets in English and maths after Covid triggered a slump in standards for key subjects.
Ministers want 90% of 11-year olds to meet expected standards in reading, writing and maths by 2030 - up from 53% seven years ago.
But research by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found levels have gone into reverse - slipping back to only slightly above grades recorded in 2015/16.
The slump means that some 275,000 11-year-olds a year are moving on to secondary education without command of basic subjects, 50,000 more than in 2019.
Alice Wilcock, the CSJ’s Head of Education, said: “The Prime Minister has made clear his commitment to improving educational standards, stating that education is the closest thing to a silver bullet for making people’s lives better.
“If we want to improve life chances and set the country on a path to economic growth, this must start with getting the foundations right in primary school.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The pandemic had a huge impact on pupils learning. Our education recovery programme, backed by £5billion, has delivered nearly three million tutoring courses.
"We are investing more than ever before in our schools, including in literacy and numeracy programmes - helping us meet our ambition for 90% of children leaving primary school to reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by 2030."
Meanwhile research showed poor children suffered more from school closures than their classmates.
The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has widened over the last three years.
Researchers say access to computers, broadband or quiet places caused “an enormous educational loss” for less well-off students.
Last year poor children were 27.4 percentage points less likely to get a grade five (a strong pass) or above in both Maths and English at GCSE - up from 25.2 in 2019.
