PRIMARY schools are celebrating a series of excellent results at Key Stage Two with even struggling schools improving in south Essex.

League tables have been produced which rank the schools based on a host of criteria including the percentage of children at a school who are achieving the expected level in core subjects such as reading and writing.

Kingston School, Thundersley achieved 100 per cent of pupils meeting the expected standard, Robert Drake Primary in Benfleet with 93 per cent of pupils achieving the expected standards.

At Canvey Junior School and Holy Family School in Benfleet a total of 90 per cent of junior pupils reach the levels expected.

Headteachers have praised their schools and children for the hard work and dedication to get these results.

Christine Redpath, headteacher at Robert Drake Primary School said: “I am delighted that pupils at Robert Drake continue to perform at these levels.

“The rate of progress of this group of children was exceptional.

“We are very proud of the performance of all of our pupils, including those who have special educational needs or are disadvantaged.

“This success is due to the team effort and commitment of staff to meet the needs of every child, whilst working in partnership with parents and carers.

“We aim to ensure that every child is happy at school, and raise their aspirations and expectations so that they can reach their individual potential in all aspects of their academic and personal development.

“These results are a reflection of the dedication and hard work of the whole school community.”

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In Southend the highest ranked primary schools include Hinguar Community Primary School with 90 per cent and St Helen’s Catholic School with 90 per cent.

Viv Stevens, headteacher at Hinguar Community Primary School said: “We are tremendously proud of the results. Our students, staff and parents all contribute to the achievement of the pupil. The children at our school are able to develop through the national curriculum and als our hidden and additions curriculum.”

Struggling primary schools in south Essex have spoken of the issues they face after the Government figures were released.

Headteachers with much smaller intakes claimed the figures have to be put in context when every child can make a significant difference to the average.

Among those near the bottom of the table were North Crescent Primary School, Wickford with only 25 per cent of students achieving expected standards and 30 per cent at Waterman Primary School, Rochford.

In Southend one of the worst performing schools was St Mary’s in Prittlewell with 56 per cent of students achieving the expected standard.

Eileen Thorn Headteacher, at Waterman Primary School said: “It is unfortunate that national league tables feature such small cohorts of children where it may be possible to identify individual pupils. 

“In the 2018 cohort, Year Six at Waterman Primary comprised ten pupils. 
“We are very proud of the progress made by those pupils in Year Six in 2018.
“Waterman was inspected in 2018 and was judged good in all areas including outcomes for pupils. 

“The pupils featured in these league tables were the Year Six pupils at the time of the inspection.

“The Ofsted report states that ‘pupils currently in the school are making good and sometimes outstanding progress from often very low starting points’.
“Our progress scores are in line with national averages taking into account the very small numbers of pupils in each cohort.

“Since the new leadership team has been in place the school has moved from no pupil achieving the expected standard to significantly more pupils meeting higher standards than national average in reading, writing and mathematics including the most disadvantaged pupils.

“Between 2016-18 our average scaled scores for pupil tests scores rose at a faster rate than national rates.

The improvement year on year in pupils meeting the expected standard is more than double the national rate of improvement.

“The school is a good school with good behaviour and pupil attitudes and a lively, engaging curriculum. 

“We agree with Ofsted that our pupils are doing very well. Their parents and teachers are very proud of them.”

South Essex Alliance Multi-Academy Trust, which runs North Crescent Primary said the school has faced various unexpected difficulties.

A spokesman said: “As a trust we were very aware of the difficulties North Crescent was facing and did not expect to turn the school round in one year. 
“The priorities for us were to ensure the children had a safe place to learn and stabilised staffing. 

“The school is coming to the end of the first year of this work with a new roof halting the ingress of rain, a refurbished interior and staffing for the future. 

“We look forward to building upon these foundations and make the steady steps of improvement.”

The Echo contacted St Mary’s in Prittlewell for a comment on the results.

This year was the third time children sat the government’s tougher tests, introduced in 2016. Concerns have been raised about disadvantaged students and the Government said this is a key area.

School not mentioned? Find the best and worst performing schools here.

Parents can find out where their child's school ranked in the league tables by visiting: www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/