A HIGHER percentage of Hampshire’s primary school children have met the expected standards in their standard assessment tests (SATs) than their peers nationally, according to provisional results published by the Department for Education.

The results of the key stage two SATs, taken by children in their final year of primary education) in May, showed that 68 per cent of Hampshire’s primary school children met the required standards for reading, writing and maths, compared with 64 per cent nationally.

This performance represents a two per cent improvement on last year.

Stephen Reid, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for education and skills, and performance, said: “This is excellent news and the results are those I would expect in a county where more than 90 per cent of schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. Those who took their SATs in May are clearly doing very well and should be proud of their achievements.”

In the individual tests, the percentage of Hampshire children who achieved the expected level was higher than the national average in each subject area:

n Reading: 78 per cent versus 75 per cent nationally (In 2017 the figure was 76 per cent locally

n Writing: 82 per cent versus 78 per cent nationally In 2017 it was 81 per cent in the county);

n Maths: 78 per cent compared with 76 per cent nationally (a year ago the figure was 77 per cent in Hampshire..

Mr Reid added: “These are provisional results and it will be some time before we can corroborate the figures. However, based on this initial release, children in Hampshire are out-performing their peers in other parts of the country and have secured themselves good foundations on which to base their secondary education, starting in September.”

The school with the best results in the country were involved in a cheating controversy last week