WORCESTER primary schools have shown continued improvement in the latest set of league tables.

Schools across the city have improved their percentage of pupils who achieved level 4 and above in their English, maths and science tests compared with last year.

In 2005, Worcestershire's percentage of pupils getting level 4 and above in English was 79 per cent, which has risen to 81 per cent this year. The maths score has risen from 74 per cent to 75 per cent, and the science results have improved from 88 per cent to 89 per cent.

County children also beat national results in English and science, but dipped one per cent below the national figure of 76 per cent in maths.

Northleigh CE Primary School in Malvern scored the second highest average point score in Worcestershire at 30.7, compared with the county average of 27.9 and the national average of 27.8.

Malvern Wyche had the highest county score in the separate value-added table (not published here), which takes into account pupils' progress while at the school. It got 103.3, compared with a Worcester average of 99.6.

Headteacher Rose Carberry thanked the whole school community for their efforts and said how delighted it was to be second in the county.

The city's top school was Whittington CE Primary, with an average point score of 30.2, also matched by Upton-on-Severn Primary.

The lowest-performing was Gorse Hill Community Primary, in Tolladine, with an average point score of 25.2. Headteacher Vivienne Cranton was not available to comment.

Other city schools also showed a marked improvement. Despite getting an average point score of 26.7 - which is lower than the county average - Stanley Road Primary School, off Wyld's Lane, Worcester, beat the value added score of 99.6, getting 101.2.

Headteacher Anne Potter put its lower results down to the fact 50 per cent of pupils arrived at the school unable to speak English.

She said: "We are never going to match Whittington. We are an inner-city multicultural school. We have children coming in throughout the age range with no English."

"There are always going to be some children who are not going to get there. It's not that they are not intelligent, they just have not been in the country long enough."

And Alex Wall, head of Fairfield Primary, which was bottom of last year's tables, said it was overjoyed with its results, which represented a 20 per cent increase in performance in all core subjects on previous years.

He said: "The league tables are a measure and although schools can justify performance in league tables against a host of criteria, at the end of the day this is what we are judged by. Our ambition is to be the best school in the city - it's a long way away but that's our aim."

In Droitwich, the highest scoring school was St Joseph's Catholic Primary with an average point score of 30, and the lowest was Westacre Middle at 26.7.

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