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EDUCAT ION IN CAMBR I DGE
Top of the Class O U R A R E A M A Y B E M O S T W E L L K N OWN F O R I T S WO R L D - C L A S S U N I V E R S I T Y , B U T O U R S C H O O L S A N D C O L L E G E S A R E T H R I V I N G , T O O
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op of the class, first among equals, best in show. When it comes to education- related accolades, our area scoops the lot. According to local data, the percentage of local residents
educated to undergraduate degree level or higher is way higher than the national average (39% compared with 32%). It helps, of course, to be home to one of the best universities in the world. But it’s not just Cambridge’s higher education providers who are achieving amazing things. Overall, 68% of all schools and colleges in our area are rated good (which is slightly ahead of the country as a whole) and 17% are outstanding (3% below the rest of the country), compared with 11% that require improvement and 3% that are inadequate. Over time, the biggest change has been the increase in ‘good’ schools – up by 6% between 2015 and 2019. That improvement is particularly marked in our area’s secondary schools, where in August 2019, 81% were ranked either good or outstanding, compared with a national average of 76% – and better than all but two other regions, London and the South East. And while those glittering grades are phenomenally impressive, they’re just one of the aspects that matter. We don’t get everything right. In particular, the disparity between the haves and have nots
“It’s not just our higher education providers who are achieving amazing things”
SPRING/SUMMER 2020
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