Last week, the DfE published the primary school league tables for 2013. The number of primary school children in England achieving a level 4 pass in reading, writing and mathematics at key stage 2 (KS2), rose slightly on last year with 76% of pupils reaching the benchmark for their age group in 2013 compared with 75% in 2012.
Overall the percentage of children getting a level 4 in writing and mathematics increased - up two percentage points and one percentage point respectively while the percentage of pupils reaching the same level in reading has decreased by one percentage point to 86%.
The figures of the percentage of pupils recording a 'good' level 4 (i.e. a 4b) have been published by the DfE for the first time. 63% of pupils achieved this level (this means a test mark that is in the top two-thirds of the level 4 mark range) in both reading and writing whilst also getting a level 4 or above in writing. Girls outperformed boys with 66% achieving this standard compared with 61% of boys
Nationally, disadvantaged pupils (those eligible for FSM in the past 6 years or looked-after children) also showed improvement, with the number achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths increasing by 2 percentage points to 63% in 2013. The attainment gap also fell by 1 percentage point.
767 primary schools in England did not meet the 60% floor standard in 2013 (6% of schools). Despite that, the figures appear to suggest an overall improvement in standards: had these new targets been in place last year, nearly 850 primary schools would have come up short.
The North East fairs well in the league table, with all local authority areas except Middlesbrough reaching the national average or above.
• In the North East, the average level 4 achievement is 77% - an increase of 2% since 2012.
• The best performing area in the North East is Redcar & Cleveland, with an average level 4 achievement of 80%.
• South Tyneside has shown the biggest annual improvement, up 5% from 2012 to 79% on the level 4 indicator.
• The difference between boys & girls’ achievement is greatest in North Tyneside, with girls performing 11 percentage points higher on the level 4 pass in reading, writing and maths.
• In the North East, 64 schools out of 1,078 did not reach the floor target - just under the national average of 6%.
• The lowest difference between boys and girls in the region is found in Middlesbrough, with just a 2% difference. This could be due to the better than average annual improvement of boys in Middlesbrough, who have achieved 7 percentage points higher than 2012.
You can read the full breakdown of the results by LA here: Primary school league table data