A SCHOOL leader says she would welcome a visit from the Education Secretary after he accused a North East community of “lacking ambition”.

Michael Gove sparked fury this week when he said there was a “real problem” in East Durham, adding you can “smell the sense of defeatism” in schools.

Toni Spoors, headteacher at Easington Academy, said her school was willing to show Mr Gove how wrong he was, stressing how it was the hardworking students he had insulted the most.

Last year, 99% of students left Easington Academy with five or more good GCSEs, while 68% also achieved A* to C grades in English and maths.

Miss Spoors said: “Mr Gove is welcome to visit this school at any time and judge for himself whether there is a lack of ambition amongst the students and staff at Easington.

“What I find most disappointing about Mr Gove’s comments is their sweeping generalisation, and his apparent willingness to categorise a whole area as lacking in ambition.

“We are told, on a fairly regular basis, the importance of Ofsted inspections.

“Yet Mr Gove, or his advisors, would appear not to have read these reports, the most recent of which judged this school to be good with outstanding features.

“Last year we had our highest academic results ever with 68% of students achieving five A* to C including English and maths, an improvement of 30% in the past four years.

“This does not suggest a lack of ambition.”

She added: “The group most insulted by Mr Gove’s comments must be the students themselves, who, I can assure Mr Gove, are bright, ambitious and according to Ofsted are ‘motivated to work hard and rise to the high expectations of the headteacher and staff, because they have been convinced they will succeed’.”

Mr Gove made his critical comments of East Durham during a speech in London on Thursday, which coincided with the launch of a book on GCSE under-performance.

Last night, a spokesman for the Department for Education said Mr Gove was standing by his comments, adding: “Durham County Council have themselves identified educational failure in East Durham.”

Meanwhile, Easington MP Grahame Morris accused Mr Gove of cheap political “point scoring”.

He said: “There have been immense improvements since 1997 in the number of pupils achieving five A* to C grades in schools across East Durham, with excellent schools such as Easington Academy.

“He should not use our children to make cheap political points.

“And instead of making speeches, he should be facing parents to explain why he has diverted money into his free school pet projects, at the expense of children in East Durham.”