PERFORMANCE tables released today by the Department for Education show children in Wiltshire have performed well in the three core subjects of reading, writing and maths.

This summer, a new set of tests were introduced by the Government as part of a wider push to raise standards around a more demanding curriculum.

Pupils are no longer assessed against levels but instead have tests to show that they have reached the expected standard in reading and maths and teachers assess whether they have reached this standard in writing.

More than half of Wiltshire’s primary pupils reached the new expected standard in all the three subjects. These results are in line with national figures and higher than the south west average.

The 2016 performance figures have been published shortly after Ofsted’s annual report. This report showed that Wiltshire’s primary schools continue to be highly rated. Nearly 33,000 children are in good and outstanding schools; representing 92 percent of primary aged children in the county.

Wiltshire councillor Richard Gamble, portfolio holder for schools, skills and youth, said: “These figures show pupils continue to do well in Wiltshire. This summer was the first for the new range of tests and our schools have delivered good results.

"I’d like to congratulate all involved.”

Carolyn Godfrey, corporate director, said: “These are good results which demonstrate the hard work of pupils, teachers and leaders preparing pupils for the next stage in education.

“However we are never complacent and we will always seek continuous improvement by working in partnership with schools to ensure that all pupils can achieve their potential so they are prepared for the challenges of a secondary school curriculum.”

Nationally the data reveals that a child's chances of getting a good grounding in English and maths still depend heavily on where they live.

In some areas of England, all primaries are considered to be performing well against key government targets, while in others, significant numbers are failing to meet the threshold.

This year, following a major shake-up of SATs and the primary curriculum, schools are considered under-performing if fewer than 65% of pupils fail to reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, or if they fail to make sufficient progress in these three key areas.

The latest statistics show that regionally, London has the lowest proportion of schools below the Government's benchmark at 1% (15 primaries)

In comparison, the South West and East Midlands have the highest percentage of under-performing schools at 7% for each region (98 and 87 schools respectively).

A Press Association analysis of the data also shows that at local council level, there are 35 authorities with no schools failing to meet the floor target.

Most of these are in London (20 areas), followed by five in the South East, three in the North East, two each in the South West and North West, and one each in eastern England, East Midlands and the West Midlands.