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School's across East Durham and Sunderland are celebrating a successful year in the Key Stage 2 Sats results. Education reporter SUE WATSON takes a look at the results.
Wearside pupils have achieved their best marks yet in this year's Sats tables.
Teachers in the region have been focusing on reading and writing skills in primary schools and officials say this has paid off with today's results.
Across the country, the average number of pupils scoring level four or above in their Key Stage 2 Sats was 80 per cent for English, 77 per cent for maths and 88 per cent for science.
Sunderland education authority scored an average of 79 per cent in English, 76 per cent in maths, but met the national average with 88 per cent in science.
This is an improvement on last year when Wearside schools gained 75 per cent in English, 74 per cent in maths and 86 per cent in science.
Lynda Brown, Head of Standards in the city council's Children's Services department, said the results were a tremendous success for the city.
"These improvements mean young people in Sunderland are improving at faster than the national rate.
"Most pleasing is a return to an upward trend in English, with 79 per cent at level four – four per cent up from 2006."
Coun Pat Smith, cabinet member for Children's Services at Sunderland City Council, said: "The improvement in standards continues thanks to dedicated staff in schools, supportive parents and, most importantly, the young people themselves. I'd like to congratulate everyone on their success."
Durham County Council authority ranked the same as the national average in English and higher in maths and science in the tests for 11-year-olds.
David Ford, Head of Achievement Services at Durham County Council, said: "Primary school pupils in County Durham are continuing to make very good progress at Key Stage 2.
"Our results over the last three years show a consistent improvement in the percentage of pupils reaching the expected level four in the three core subjects of English, maths and science.
"Our value added score – which shows how much progress pupils have made between the ages of seven and 11 – is also above average.
"We are delighted that several of our schools have been named as being in the top five per cent of schools nationally for their value added scores.
"This fantastic level of achievement is the result of a great deal of hard work and commitment from schools, teachers, pupils and parents and we congratulate them all on their success."
St Michael's is No 1
St Michael's RC Primary School in Houghton was Wearside's top-ranking school in the Key Stage 2 Sats.
The school gained 100 per cent at level four and above in English, 94 per cent in maths and 100 per cent in science, where 87 per cent of the pupils gained a level five.
Headteacher Paul Foster said: "I am thrilled all the hard work of the children and teachers paid off and the youngsters got the results they deserved."
However, Mr Foster, said while academic achievements are important, he feels schools should be judged on what they provide for the whole child.
He said: "I am against the whole issue of Sats and league tables. There is more to education than that. It is not the be all and end all.
"Here at St Michael's we are about the achievements of the whole child. We want to develop them spiritually, morally and culturally and there are no league tables for that.
"Children are not robots who can be programmed to perform better year on year.
"We are very fortunate here that we have fantastic support from our governors and parents and there is a great teaching staff.
"Our children know they are expected to do their best and that's what they do."
Music hits the right note for school success
MOZART could hold one of the keys to the fantastic achievements of a County Durham primary school.
Red Rose Primary School in Chester-le-Street is celebrating making huge progress in its Key Stage 2 Sats results, with all pupils gaining level four or above in all three subjects: maths, science and English.
After a disappointing set of results last year, the staff, parents and pupils at the York Terrace school were determined to do better.
Headteacher, Sue Bainbridge, who joined the school just three years ago, said a number of initiatives were brought in to try to raise the grades of the pupils.
Among these was Big Write every Friday where the whole school took part in extended writing practice.
But to help the creative juices flow, the teachers dimmed the lights and Mozart was played in the background.
Mrs Bainbridge said: "We were very disappointed by the results last year, so we put a lot of new initiatives in place. It has been a lot of hard work, but it has paid off.
"I am really pleased for the children that they have achieved the results they really deserve."
She said other initiatives included revamping the school's rewards programme to give extra encouragement to the children to be more motivated and eager to learn.
Last year the average number of pupils gaining level fours in their Key Stage 2 Sats was 81.3 per cent, which means an average increase in each of the three subjects of more than 18 per cent.
Also, the number of children gaining a level five in any of their three Key Stage 2 subjects has risen from a third to two thirds.
Special needs pupils' great achievement
A WEARSIDE school which caters for children with special needs is one of the country's best-performing primary schools.
Maplewood School in Redcar Road scored in the top three per cent in England for its effectiveness in helping the pupils perform the best they can in Key Stage 2 Sats.
Dave Horne, deputy headteacher at the school, said everyone was delighted for the children and the staff who had worked so hard.
Mr Horne said: "Our kids come to us with very low scores because of the nature of their difficulties and we are delighted at what they achieve.
"It is not the first time we have been in the top five per cent in the country and we have been in the top 10 per cent at few times.
"But this score puts us in the top two or three per cent, which is really pleasing. The children and the teachers worked so hard to achieve it."
Other regional schools in the top 100 for CVS score are Laygate Community School, South Shields; Green Lane CofE School, Durham; Epinay Business School, South Tyneside; and St John's CofE, County Durham.
New rating for fairer picture
THE Government is publishing a new set of scores for the first time this year.
The Contextual Value Added (CVA) is based on the attainment of the pupils between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and the aim is to give a fairer and more realistic picture of performing and the progress children make there.
The base score for the CVS is 100 and a score of 101 means that, on average, the school's Key Stage 2 cohort has achieved one term's more progress than the national average.
A score of 99 means that the school's pupils made a term's less progress.
All schools with a CVS score of 101.5 and above will be in the top five per cent of schools nationally for effectiveness and schools with 98.4 or below are in the bottom five per cent.
The average CVS score for Sunderland is 100, but in County Durham pupils progressed slightly better than expected with an average score of 100.2.
On Wearside the schools with the best CVA scores were Maplewood School for children with special needs (102.4), St Michael's RC Primary, Houghton (101.9), Town End Primary (101.7), Usworth Colliery Primary (101.8) and Lambton Primary, 101.8.
A few Wearside schools' CVA score fell below 99. The worst-performing was Wessington Primary School with 97.7, although the school's Key Stage 2 results were better than last year.
School's big improvement
WEARSIDE'S Quarry View Primary School has been ranked in the top 100 primary schools making sustained improvement since 2004.
The school, in the city's St Luke's Road, has consistently improved its performance in the three core subjects – maths, English and science.
The school was placed 62nd in the top 100 schools making a sustained improvement.
Since 1994, the number of pupils gaining level fours in an overall average of the three subjects in Key Stage 2 results has increased from 52 per cent to 81 per cent.
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