KEY Stage 2 results, published on Thursday (13 December) by the Department for Education, show Thurrock’s 11-year-olds are on target to hit the council’s target of bettering the national average by mid-2013.
The council’s portfolio holder for education, Cllr Oliver Gerrish, said: “Thurrock’s overall results for the all-important figure of the percentage of Year 6 children reaching Level 4 or better in English and maths combined have improved by eight per cent over the past two years.
“That is faster than the national picture and shows all the hard work being done by our schools, our children and the council’s impressive school support teams is paying off.”
He added: “Thurrock’s schools are also now above the national average for Key Stage 1 – the tests children takes in reading, writing and maths at seven.”
In two Thurrock primary schools, all 100 per cent of pupils achieved Level 4+ and one other just missed out, scoring 98.3 per cent.
But it is not just the highest performing schools that are making a difference. There are three Thurrock schools where results have jumped by up to 21 per cent in the past year after being well below the expected standard and a fourth that has improved by 28.5 per cent over two years.
Cllr Gerrish said: “Schools are also judged by the percentage of pupils who make the biggest improvements in English and maths between Key Stages 1 and 2.
“The government’s figures show seven of our schools can boast that over 95 per cent of their pupils made this progress in English and a further four had pupils that made excellent progress in maths too.”
And he said: “There is also great news about schools judged good or better by school inspectors, Ofsted.
“In the past year, seven of our primary schools have been rated as good and one as outstanding across all areas.
“This is the background information people should take into consideration when looking at the headlines generated by Ofsted the other week.
“Our young people – of all ages – our schools and our teachers and governors all have the potential to be the best.
“Too many people jump at the slightest chance to knock Thurrock and everyone here. Instead they should be celebrating our successes and supporting our efforts to make Thurrock the best place to be and the best place to grow up.”
