PRIMARY schools in Bournemouth, Poole and Hampshire all achieved improved results in English, maths and science this year, new figures reveal.

Eleven-year-olds were tested in the three core subjects for the last time in May this year. Next year the science element of the tests will be removed.

Only those in the Dorset County Council area showed slightly lower results than last year.

Year six pupils are expected to achieve at least level four in all three subjects and in Bourne-mouth 80 per cent achieved the target in English, 77 per cent in maths and 88 per cent in science. In Poole, the figures were 81, 76 and 88; in Hampshire 82, 81 and 91; and in Dorset 82, 79 and 91.

Seventy per cent of children in Bournemouth and Poole achieved level four in both maths and English, with 73 per cent in Dorset.

Some of the highest achieving schools in the area include St Mary’s in Poole with 97, 91 and 97; Corpus Christi in Bournemouth with 97, 90 and 95; All Saints in Sherborne with 92, 100 and 100; Durweston with 100, 100 and 93; and St Catherine’s in Wimborne with 96, 96 and 96.

Trent Young’s Endowed C of E School in Sherborne – which had just 16 pupils sitting the test – achieved 100 per cent in all subjects.

The tests are designed to give parents and carers more information about schools and to monitor the progress of the children. But teaching unions are critical of the tests. “League tables are misleading” said a spokesman for the National Association of Head Teachers. “They are also demoralising for schools and school leaders, particularly those working tirelessly in tough communities.”

See the results tables in today's Daily Echo.