The latest primary school league tables published today show that Cumbrian schools are performing below the national average.

Fifty one per cent of pupils in Cumbria achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

This is below the nationally average where 53 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in the three key areas.

Children sit the tests when they are 11 and before they go to secondary school.

Some of the best performing schools in north and east Cumbria - where pupils achieved the expected standard and are above the local and national average - are Greystoke School, near Penrith (100 per cent), Cummersdale School, near Carlisle (70 per cent), Houghton School (89 per cent), Kirkbride School (80 per cent), Stanwix School (78 per cent) and Thursby School (83 per cent).

Gareth Jones, headteacher at Cummersdale School, said: "We just want to give children the best possible education we can. The teachers and pupils worked hard."

Because of the changes to the curriculum, figures for 2016 are not comparable to those for earlier years.


Download the league tables for Cumbria here (.pdf)


The 2016 key stage 2 assessments are the first which assess the new, more challenging national curriculum which was introduced in 2014.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said: "This year's SATs are the first that test the new primary school curriculum in English and maths that we introduced in 2014.

"This new curriculum raises expectations and ensures pupils become more accomplished readers and are fluent in the basics of arithmetic, including times-tables, long division and fractions.

"Many schools have responded well to this more rigorous curriculum, supporting their pupils to be leaving primary school better prepared for the demands of secondary school."