Educational reporter(wp/es):
Girls leaving primary school in inner London outperformed children from every other part of the country in their exam results, new figures reveal.
An outstanding 75 per cent of girls passed reading, writing and maths SATs in inner London boroughs this year, meaning they mastered the three Rs.
This is the highest result for any group in England.
Boys in inner London also did better than boys in any other area, with 67 per cent passing all three tests.
The combined boys’ and girls’ results mean pupils in inner London easily outclassed children in the rest of the country, with outer London just behind.
London as a whole continues to excel, with 70 per cent of pupils passing all their tests compared with the national average of 65 per cent. This is an increase for London of four percentage points on last year.
The figures released by the department for education also reveal:
- More than 12,000 London children - or 13 per cent - reached the higher standard in all three subjects. This is the best result in the country.
- 26 London Local Authorities have no underperforming schools - an improvement on 24 last year.
- Just eight London schools did not reach the government’s floor standard, putting them at risk of being branded failing.
- 18 London schools were defined as “coasting” - five in inner London and 13 in outer London. This equates to 1 per cent of all London schools, which is the lowest percentage in the country.
Nationally, the percentage of children leaving primary school with a good grounding in the three Rs also increased. Sixty-four per cent of 11-year-olds who took SATs this year passed all three tests.
This is up from 61 per cent last year.
Overall, the number of schools considered to be under-performing has decreased, but 364 mainstream primaries in England still fell below the primary school floor standard.
A school is below the “floor” if fewer than 65 per cent of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, or if they do not make enough progress.
A spokesman for the department for education said the data shows the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is narrowing. The gap has closed by 13 per cent since 2001, and three per cent in the last year.
But further analysis by the BBC suggests if the slow pace of change remains the same, it will take 50 years to close the attainment gap, and poor pupils will not catch up until 2070.
This year, 51 per cent of the poorest pupils reached the expected level in their SATs, compared with 70 per cent of their better-off peers, leaving a gap of 19 percentage points.
School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said: “Standards are rising in our schools, with 86 per cent of schools now rated good or outstanding as of August 2018, compared to 68 per cent in 2010 and these statistics show that the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has closed by 13 per cent since 2011.
“Every child, regardless of their background, deserves a high quality education and opportunity to fulfil their potential.
"Headteachers are using the freedoms afforded by academy and free school status to make this a reality, as illustrated by the progress disadvantaged pupils in multi-academy trusts are making in writing and maths.”