HUNDREDS of Swindon school pupils finished primary education without meeting the government’s requirements, though Swindon is still in line with the national average attainment rate.

Key Stage 2 results for all 2,809 11-year-olds who took their SATs in May show that 1,039 (37 per cent) of them did not achieve the required score in all their tests.

That’s an attainment rate of 63 per cent, which is only just below the England average of 64 per cent.

The tests measure how well a child is doing in reading, mathematics, and grammar, and are used to evaluate how well primary schools are preparing their pupils for secondary school.

Girls did slightly better than boys, with 67 per cent of girls meeting the standard compared to 59 per cent of boys.

During Year 6, students are also evaluated separately by their teachers in reading, writing, science and maths.

These assessments provide a broader picture of how well children are doing at school.

Children in Swindon did much better in KS2 teacher assessments than in the tests.

They did best in science, where 82 per cent of pupils met the required standard, and worst in maths and writing, where 78 per cent of pupils made the grade.

Councillor Mary Martin, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and School Attainment, highlighted the many successes of primary school pupils.

She said: “I would very much like to thank all the hard working staff in our primary schools including teaching assistants, teachers and headteachers for their successes last year.

“In particular I would like to thank the children who took the SATs who worked so well during the year with so many hours of study.

"The results produced by the DfE are un-validated at the moment and we'd expect the validated results to confirm that our schools are performing as well as others in the country and in many cases much better.

“The biggest improvement has been in pupil progress, which is above the national average in writing, in line with the national average in reading and just below in mathematics, although much improved on 2017.

"Our education advisers have analysed the data from the DfE and will be meeting headteachers to discuss where schools have performed well and what needs to improve further."

"It has also been very encouraging to see that our results at Key Stage 1 (seven-year-olds) are the strongest they have been for many years..”