The proportion of 11-year-olds reaching the standard expected of them in maths and English rose by one percentage point this year, national curriculum test results showed today.

But thousands of school pupils did not take part in the SATs earlier this year because of a boycott by headteachers.

And there are fears that those who did will be left confused by a second set of results being published today for the first time.

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Alongside the test results for around 600,000 youngsters there will be teacher assessments on pupil performance over the year.

Education officials in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin are still analysing how well children have performed overall.

In Telford & Wrekin up to 45 per cent of schools did not run the tests but in the rest of Shropshire only a small percentage failed to stage them.

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Nationally, the known results show that the proportion of 11-year-olds reaching Level 4 in both core subjects went up by one percentage point.

The results reveal that 81 per cent of 11-year-olds reached Level 4 in English, up from 80 per cent last year; 80 per cent reached this level in maths, up from 79 per cent last year; 84 per cent achieved the required level in reading, while 71 per cent reached Level 4 or above for writing.

Shropshire has in previous years had one of the best Sats records in England and results have been steadily improving in Telford & Wrekin.

Teaching unions have challenged the new coalition Government to revamp the exams, which they say set meaningless targets.

But Education Secretary Michael Gove last month announced the tests would proceed as normal next year, even though more than a quarter of primary schools in England took part in the boycott in May. Mr Gove has said he accepts there are flaws in the testing system and is committed to reviewing it.

Those that did not take SATs this year will be judged on their teachers’ assessments alone.

Across England, primary heads refused to administer the tests as part of industrial action by the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers.

By Education Correspondent Dave Morris