Yorkshire has half of all UK’s blackspots: Primary school tables in full

ALMOST half of the country’s worst performing areas for primary schools failing to hit national targets were in Yorkshire, damning new figures have revealed.

By John Roberts Education Correspondent Thursday, 12th December 2013, 9:30 am

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Primary school league tables have been published today showing how 11-year-old pupils fared in maths and reading tests and teacher assessments of their writing.

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LEAGUE TABLES IN FULL

Click the links to download PDF tables for each local authority, from the Department for Education

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The Department for Education (DfE) have revealed that four of the ten education authority areas with the highest number of schools failing to meet floor targets for mastering the three Rs were in Yorkshire.

Bradford, Doncaster, Hull and Kirklees were all in the bottom ten out of more than 150 areas across England.

Schools which miss the floor target can be targeted by the Government for intervention - including being converted into academies.

The floor targets facing primary schools have been made tougher this year with pupils expected to get to a set standard in maths, reading and writing rather than just in maths and English which had been the case in previous years.

Schools were set the target of getting 60 per cent of pupils to a general standard expected of 11-year-olds in reading, writing and maths.

The latest figures show that in Bradford 16 per cent of schools - 22 in total were below this floor target

In Doncaster, Hull and Kirklees 13 per cent of schools were below it

This was 11 schools in Doncaster, seven in Hull and 13 in Kirklees.

The DfE describes the targets as “firm but fair” as schools are only classed as being below the floor if their pupils also fail to have made the same level of progress in reading, writing and maths as the national average between the ages of seven and 11.

The DfE say that nationally 767 primary schools are below the floor target from this year’s standard assessment tests and teacher assessments.

However they said that had the same target been in place last year 834 schools would have missed out in 2012.

A DfE spokesman said that the new targets and the expansion of the Government’s academy programme had combined to help schools raise standards.

He added: “This Government brought in higher primary school floor targets with one aim in mind – to drive up standards with immediate effect to end years of entrenched failure.

“Schools respond to this challenge. The floor standards we introduced were tougher and performance is improving. Heads, teachers and pupils deserve credit for meeting the challenge head on.

“Schools with a long history of under-performance, and who are not stepping up to the mark, will be taken over by an academy sponsor. The expertise and strong leadership provided by sponsors is the best way to turn around weak schools and give pupils there the best chance of a first-class education.

“Some of the improvements seen at new sponsored primary academies are remarkable – ending years of chronic under-performance.”

The DfE said sponsored academies improved their performance in the key measure by three percentage points from 2012.