Schools get thumbs up in latest league tables
HALF of the top 10 primary schools in East Cheshire are in Macclesfield or Poynton, new figures show.
Bollington St Johns, Pott Shrigley, Prestbury CofE, Lostock Hall Primary School in Poynton and Kettleshulme St James each saw 100 percent of Year Six pupils get a Level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths SATs assessments - the expected level for an 11-year-old.
Top of the pile locally was Kettleshulme St James where pupils got an average score of 31.7 from the tests, more commonly known as SATs, which were sat by pupils in May this year.
The school’s success in this year’s assessments makes it the second best school in East Cheshire and the 150th best in England, compared to the 15,000 other primary schools.
Lostock Hall was third best in East Cheshire, while Bollington St Johns, Pott Shrigley and Prestbury CofE were fifth, sixth and ninth.
Paul Quirk, headteacher at Kettleshulme St James, said while he was pleased at the results he took league tables with ‘a pinch of salt’.
He said: “Children and teachers worked hard to achieve those results and I am pleased it proves that we are effective in what we do, but I don’t go overboard with it.
You have to take them with a pinch of salt.
“We are a small school and I like to give children an all-round education and cater for an individual’s needs as well.
“Hitting targets is important but so is the broader development.”
Bollington Cross CofE Primary School had the highest ‘Value Added’ score for its 2015 results, at 101.8 percent, which means 1.8 percent of pupils did better than the expected score of 100.
Value Added scores aim to measure how much better pupils do than they might be expected to based on previous attainment and progress.
Bollington Cross had the highest proportion of pupils gaining Level 5 or above in reading, writing and maths, above the expected attainment levels for 11-year-olds, with 69 percent.
There were 14 schools across the area where the average level achieved was a Level 5 or above.
Across England, 80 percent of pupils achieved level 4 or above in all of reading, writing and mathematics, compared to 78 percent in 2014.
Schools in Macclesfield, Poynton and the surrounding villages achieved above the national average - 82 percent.