City is bottom of the class as chiefs pledge to improve results

Peterborough finishes bottom of the table in primary school attainment as education bosses and headteachers strive to tackle issues affecting pupils.

Council chiefs have said Peterborough primary schools should be performing much better after finishing rock bottom of attainment league tables. The city was ranked 151 out of 151 in tables showing achievement i n SATS scores, taken by pupils i n their last year of primary education.

Pupils returned to class after the summer break yesterday, and parents were promisedtherewouldbeabig improvementinnextyear’sresults.

Terry Reynolds, the council’s interim director for education, said progress made by youngsters was just as important as the attainment at the end of primary school.

Hesaid: “Noneoftheheads we have spoken to, none of us think that this level of attainmentoutcomeiswhatwewant and is good enough. We want it to be better. We have to recognise the things that make it like it is and deal with them.

“We also have to recognise that kids going through the primary system need to get to a certain point by 16 +, that’s the key point - its not finished at 11, its finished at 16. What secondary schools will do in year seven is pick up on the results of the kids, they will have catch up programmes for kids who are belowtheexpected level, they will be monitoring them through year seven, eight and nine before they start their GCSEs and make sure that they are making the progress and catching up with what they need to do.”

But Gary Perkins, Peterborough City Council’s assistant director of education, said the authority should realisti- cally be aiming significantly higher.

He said: “( i n the past) We got consistently into the high 80s for attainment and 30s or 40s for progress, and that’s where we should be. We should be in the top third for progress. Attainment, we will not get there but we were in the 80s and low 90s consistently, and that is where we should be.”

He said he expected a ‘big improvement’ in the next set of results as this year’s would act ‘as a shock to our schools.’

Mr Perkins said the data to put the tables together wasalso incomplete, as it is thought two schools were omitted - and the council was expecting the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard to jump by three per cent - which would put the authority level at the bottom with Bedford.

Otherimprovementsfrom all authorities will also beseen when pupils who have not been in the country for more than two years are removed from the data.