WILTSHIRE'S secondary schools are the best in the South West, according to the latest figures.

Education watchdog Ofsted released its annual report today (Thursday), revealing that almost all (99 per cent) of secondary pupils in the county attend good or outstanding schools. Dorset placed third with 97 per cent.

Swindon came bottom of the region's 15 local authorities, with less than half of secondary school pupils (47 per cent) in good or outstanding schools.

The figures also showed that 88 per cent of secondary pupils in Wiltshire attend academies, compared to just 56 per cent in Dorset, the lowest in the region.

Wiltshire and Dorset's primary schools did not fare quite as well when compared to the rest of the region, despite a vast majority of pupils attending good or outstanding schools.

Wiltshire ranked 11th of 15m, with 92 per cent of children attending good or outstanding primary schools. Dorset ranked 14th with 87 per cent.

Around a quarter of Wiltshire and Dorset's primary pupils attend academies.

Overall, Wiltshire schools have improved significantly over the past six years, according to the figures, mirroring the national trend.

In 2010, 32 per cent of Wiltshire's pupils attended schools rated inadequate or requires improvement, compared with 6 per cent this year.

As a region, the South West came second to London which boasted the highest percentage of good or outstanding schools (99 per cent). Yorkshire and the Humber came last with 85 per cent.

Bradley Simmons, Regional Director, South West said: "Parents in the South West will be pleased to know that the proportion of good or better primary schools remains strong.

"Although secondary schools compare well with other parts of the country, there is too much variation within the region.

"There are some positives. Last year, I challenged Poole publicly to raise its game.

"All those involved in Poole’s schools are to be congratulated that there has been significant improvement.

"This is a good example of a real political will to improve across all stakeholders.

"Poole ranks above the national level for the key measures at key stages 1, 2 and 4. However, there remain local authorities in which standards are exceptionally poor.

"Swindon, for example, in 2016, failed its pupils at every stage of education.

"It can’t be right that pupils in Bournemouth are almost twice as likely to go to a good secondary school as pupils in Swindon and South Gloucestershire.

"Nor is it right that in both Dorset and Swindon, pupils lag up to nine percentage points behind the national level for the essentials of reading, writing and mathematics at age 11.

"A persistent concern in the region is the underachievement of children from poor backgrounds and children looked after across all key stages.

"As regional director, I remain deeply concerned that the differences in achievement between these children and other children nationally are not diminishing fast enough.

"We are determined that the South West should deliver the best education to pupils and pupils at greatest risk of underachieving.

"It is not right that these children are not getting the education they deserve.

"Schools are given additional funding to help disadvantaged children, so there are no excuses."