In his annual report, described as a "health check on schools" and released on Wednesday, David Bell congratulated the schools.

They were: Churchdown Village Infant School, Redbrook Church of England Primary School, Cleeve School and Tewkesbury School.

They were among 415 schools and colleges in England to be praised.

Education shake-up

Mr Bell's annual report covers the academic year 2002/2003.

It provides an overview of the quality of teaching, behaviour and achievement in England's state schools, and was released as reforms to Gloucestershire's secondary schools were still being discussed.

A total of 13 secondary schools in Gloucester, and all the county's sixth forms, are affected by what is being billed as "the biggest shake-up in education since comprehensives were introduced".

Last year, Ofsted said the provision of sixth-form education in the county was "unplanned, uneconomic and ill-fitted to the needs of many students in smaller schools".