23,000 more Essex pupils are attending good or outstanding schools than two years ago, according to the latest figures.

Essex County Council is congratulating the county’s schools after latest figures showed 159,968 pupils now attend schools rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted – compared to 136,835 in 2013.

The most notable increase has been over the last year, with 18,221 extra pupils being taught at a school with one of the top Ofsted ratings than in 2014 – the equivalent of more than an entire Essex year group.

The improvements also mean the percentage of pupils attending good or outstanding schools is now above the national average of 81.7%.

Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s councillor for education, said: “We are blessed with some fantastic schools in Essex and I would like to congratulate staff, governors and pupils on the amazing improvements that have been made in recent years.

“As a council we are committed to improving educational standards throughout the county and I am delighted with the progress being made. Moving forward, it is important that we maintain momentum and I would challenge schools to strive for further improvements.”

Among the council’s efforts to ensure standards continue to improve is its championing of the school-led improvement model, which has been so successful in Basildon.

The Basildon Excellence Panel was set up by Essex County Council, Basildon Council and Basildon Education Services Trust to drive primary school improvements in Basildon.

Prior to its creation in 2014, seven of the town’s primary schools were rated as inadequate by Ofsted and a further 14 were regarded as requiring improvement.

Just 19 months on and there are no longer any inadequate primary schools in Basildon and only eight which require improvement.

Such has been the success of the excellence panel model that similar partnerships are now in place in Harlow and Tendring, and schools across the county are being encouraged to follow suit.

A countywide project group has been set up and is encouraging schools to form clusters and work together to drive improvements. It is hoped that by summer 2018 all Essex schools will belong to a cluster.