Yorkshire’s primary schools ‘among the worst in Britain’

The national picture shows the number of children across England who are leaving primary schools with an acceptable grasp of the three Rs is on the increase – but a regional breakdown of results from this summer’s Sats taken by 11-year-olds shows Yorkshire came joint bottom, four points behind the North-West.

Results were particularly bad in Wakefield, which slumped to third bottom in the national league table of 151 local education authorities, and in Bradford.

At the other end of the table, East Riding posted the country’s biggest improvement to rocket to 24th place nationwide, seven positions behind high-flying York.

Nationally, there was satisfaction that the number of children achieving basic levels of reading, writing and arithmetic rose three percentage points, to 67 per cent.

But this was tempered by the underlying fact that one-third of children are still falling behind in one or more of these basic subjects. One in 10 boys is leaving primary school with the reading age of a seven-year-old or worse.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Thousands of children are doing very well – testament to their hard work and the professional skill of their teachers.

“But a third of children are still struggling in the three Rs. There has been a decline in the proportion of children who can read and write beyond the expected level. And the results of our weakest readers and writers also remain a real concern.”

Labour MPs welcomed the overall rise in basic standards, but warned funding cuts could affect performance in future years.

Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham said the figures marked “a continuation of a trend of improving results begun with Labour”.