Suffolk’s primary schools have seen a boost in their Key Stage 2 results - although the county is still behind the national average.
The figures, published by the Department of Education today, show that 61% of pupils in the county are meeting the expected standards compared to 64% of pupils across England as a whole.
This years results appear to be a step in the right direction, as figures are up from 57% in 2017.
Among the top performing schools in the county were Henley Primary School and Ringshall Primary School, where 100% of students achieved their expected KS2 marks.
They were closely followed by St Mark’s Catholic Primary School in Ipswich, with 94%, and St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School and Hintlesham and Chattisham Primary School, with 90%.
A spokesman for St Mark’s said: “We are all very proud of our school and pupils.
“The results are testament to the hard work and dedication of staff, parents and children alike.
“We believe that our year-on-year consistent success is due to our focus on developing excellent learning behaviours in all children, which underpins our creative, broad and balanced curriculum.
“The children never fail to impress us with their creativity, resilience and growth mindset, and we feel privileged to be a part of their learning journey every day.”
The top schools in terms of pupils achieving a higher standard than expected were Wilby Church of England Primary School, with 42%, Elveden Church of England Primary with 36% and Oulton Broad Primary with 34%.
A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said: “Suffolk has seen another increase in the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.
“This is an improvement of 4% on the previous year, which reflects the national increase.”
However, critics say KS2 results are not a reliable way of assessing the overall attainment of a child at school.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said the performance tables ‘come at a cost’ and that a replacement was needed to properly assess pupils.
He said: “The test scores reported by the Department for Education tell us little about the overall quality of children’s education, yet they continue to dominate many aspects of school life.
“They come at a cost.
“In the pursuit of high SATs scores, teachers’ workload is intensified and children’s well-being is damaged.
“Teaching to the test, as even Ofsted now recognises, works against the development of a broad curriculum and rich opportunities for learning.
“The primary assessment system based on SATs has run its course: we need a replacement.”
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