Shropshire Star

Primary school league tables 2016: Telford results hailed as above national average

Telford primary schools are performing better than both the national and regional average. council bosses said today as league tables were released.

Published

They said that the results of a new system of measuring performance by primary school pupils showed that 56% of primary school pupils in Telford and Wrekin have achieved the new Expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage Two.

That compares with the average for England of 53% and in the West Midlands of 51%.

Key to results:

A: Number of pupils eligible for assessment in National Curriculum Stage 2 tests.

B: Percentage of pupils achieving Level Four and above in reading.

C: Percentage of pupils achieving Level Four and above in Maths.

D: Percentage of pupils achieving Level Four and above in Reading, Maths and Writing.

A new assessment system without levels was introduced this year with pupils taking new, more rigorous SATs tests in the summer.

The key stage two tables confirm the percentage of children achieving the nationally expected standard or above in reading, writing and mathematics combined, and the average progress scores achieved in reading, writing and mathematics separately, a calculation based on national prior attainment groups at the age of seven.

Primary schools in the borough have outperformed many schools across the West Midlands with only Solihull (which gained 58%) and Warwickshire (which gained 57%) exceeding Telford and Wrekin's results.

In Telford and Wrekin:

  • 70% of pupils achieved the Expected standard in Readingl, compared with national average of 66%

  • 74% achieved the Expected standard in Writing, which is the same as the national average

  • 71% achieved the Expected standard in Mathematics, compared with national average of 70%

See the results for the rest of Shropshire here

Councillor Gilly Reynolds, Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for education, said: "We can be very proud of these results which show that our primary school pupils are performing extremely well.

"It is important to reiterate that these results can not be compared to previous years because of the new system. The new curriculum is more challenging for pupils but the government has said schools have responded well to the higher demand.

"The fact that in Telford and Wrekin we have exceeded the national and regional average is fantastic news and I would like to say well done and thank you to pupils, staff, governors and parents."

She added: "I am very proud that 96 per cent of our primary schools in Telford and Wrekin are now rated either good or outstanding."

In the rest of Shropshire, Reading was again very strong, with 68% of pupils achieving at least the expected standard, compared to 66%.

Writing was just below the national average, with 65% of pupils achieving or exceeding the expected standard.

Sixty nine per cent of pupils reached or surpassed the standard in mathematics, which was very close to pupils nationally.

Head tells of her pride in pupils’ achievements

Head Stacey Beale celebrates with pupils at St Luke's Catholic Primary School, Trench

The head of a top-performing school in Telford has praised pupils and staff for their hard work as the new primary league tables are published.

Stacey Beale is the executive head of St Luke's Catholic Primary School, in Trench, and of St Peter's and St Paul's Catholic Primary School, in Newport.

She said she was very proud of their achievements despite the challenges of introducing a new curriculum.

Under the new system, 11 year olds have seen a raising of the bar in the level of work in English and maths they have to master before they start secondary school. Changes have also been made to assessments.

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