THE gap in attainment for some of Swindon’s primary schools has been highlighted with new figures revealing the town had schools in both the top and bottom 200 in the country.

The primary school league tables, which were released yesterday, also for the first time listed schools without a ranking after they boycotted the SATs examinations in the summer.

Rodbourne Cheney Primary School has been singled out for praise and has been ranked first in the borough after pupils there achieved an average point score of 29.1.

The percentage of pupils achieving level 4 – the expected level for the age group – in English and maths was 100 per cent.

In contrast those at Mountford Manor Primary School, Walcot, which has been ranked bottom, achieved just 24.4.

Here the figures were 44 per cent for English and 74 per cent for maths.

The difference between the two schools’ ‘value added’ scores, which shows parents how much the school has improved their child’s learning since they started, was 98.7 at Mountford Manor compared with 102 at Rodbourne Cheney.

Since September, after it became clear Mountford Manor was not meeting its targets, there a new leadership team has been brought in at the school.

Nick Capstick, headteacher of Drove Primary School, was brought in as executive headteacher and his deputy, Ann Neave, as operational head.

Mr Capstick insisted it was now an improving school.

“Nobody can deny that Mountford Manor has gone through a turbulent time and the results are not as pleasing as we would want them to be,” he said Experts from across the borough had been drafted in to look at how the school was doing things and to target weaknesses, such as in teaching English.

He said: “Significant progress has been made and the school is on the up – moral among teachers is far better, the quality of teaching and learning has improved and standards have improved.”

He also pointed out that the 237-pupil school had achieved above the national average in its maths scores.

Over at Rodbourne Cheney primary, which was given a notice to improve four years ago, headteacher Lauren Connor puts their success down to their federation, first with Moredon and now with Nyland schools.

“It proves that Rodbourne Cheney is delivering a quality education and I’m really pleased.

“But I am most pleased with the progress score.

“We have two really outstanding schools working together and teachers are having really good discussions with each other about what value they can add to the curriculum.

“I think our success is down to the fact that we have so many dedicated professionals having lots of discussions.

“Federation is never about one school taking over another – it’s about a team coming in seeing the good things that are happening and looking at what they can do together.”

Neither Grange Junior nor Goddard Park primaries appear on the league table this year after they boycotted the SATs in the summer.