MORE primary school pupils in Dorset are hitting the expected standards in English and maths, new figures show.

Many local figures are still lagging slightly behind the national average – but standards have risen significantly in the past five years.

The results are based on testing and assessment at the end of Key Stage 2, which runs from ages eight to 11.

In Bournemouth, 77 per cent of pupils achieved Level 4 or above in their Key Stage 2 tests in both English and maths, against a national average for state schools of 79 per cent. In 2007, the figure for Bournemouth was 68 per cent.

Anne Crossland, the council’s strategy leader for primary education, said: “These are the highest results ever achieved in Bournemouth and are testimony to the council’s commitment made last year to supporting schools in making significant improvements, particularly in Key Stage 2.”

She added: “Reading and maths test results and writing teacher assessments at Level 4 and Level 5 are all much higher than in 2011. There are also very good improvements in children’s progress from the consistently high results at the end of Key Stage 1 and early years. The national data released is provisional at the moment and our locally calculated results for progress are English is nine per cent higher than in 2011 and higher than the figure that has been published.”

Poole saw 78 per cent of its pupils achieving the expected standard in both English and maths, compared with 68 per cent five years ago.

Stuart Twiss, head of children and young people's Services at the Borough of Poole, inset, said: “Although it is difficult to make comparisons with last year’s English results because the testing approach has changed, we are confident the attainment of children aged 11 in Poole continues to rise.”

He added: “Poole’s attainment overall is now close to the national performance after a number of years of being below. Many of our schools have improved their individual results and all are looking to improve on the underlying progress that helps children to attain.”

In the rest of Dorset, the figure for Level 4 English and maths was equal to the national average at 79 per cent, compared with 74 per cent in 2007.

Eighty-four per cent of pupils in Bournemouth were making the expected progress between Key Stages 1 and 2 in English (up from 78 per cent in 2009). The figure was 83 per cent in Poole (up from 78 per cent) and 87 per cent in Dorset (up from 78 per cent). The national figure was 89 per cent.

The percentage making expected progress in maths was 84 per cent in Bournemouth (up from 75 per cent in 2009), 83 per cent in Poole (up from 76 per cent) and 85 per cent in Dorset (up from 80). The national figure was 87 per cent.

Boys are still lagging behind

THE Key Stage 2 figures also showed boys were still lagging behind girls in some subjects.

Only 70 per cent of Poole boys were achieving Level 4 or above in writing, compared with 85 per cent of girls. In Bournemouth, the figure was 73 per cent for boys and 83 per cent for girls. In Dorset, 74 per cent of boys achieved the standard, compared with 87 per cent of girls.

The national figure was 76 per cent for boys and 87 for girls.

Eighty-two per cent of boys were achieving Level 4 or above in reading in both Bournemouth and Poole, compared with 87 per cent of girls in Bournemouth and 90 per cent in Poole.

In Dorset, the figure was 84 per cent for boys and 90 per cent for girls.  The national average for boys was 83 per cent and for girls 89 per cent.