FROME primary schools are celebrating as the latest national primary school tables show they are performing well.
Schools are judged by the percentage of pupils who achieved a pass at level four or above in maths and English in the key stage 2 tests. The results are published by the Department for Education. The national average this year was 75 per cent of pupils achieving level 4 or above in English and maths.
Oakfield Academy recorded the highest score in the Frome area and also the biggest improvement as they had 84 per cent of pupils pass, up from 69 per cent last year.
St Louis Catholic Primary School scored 80%, above the national average, despite a slight decrease from 82% the previous year. Selwood Academy scored 76%%, an increase on their 2013 score of 72%.
Oakfield Academy headteacher Emma Wilkes said, “We are absolutely thrilled with the results and it is all down to the hard work and dedication of the pupils and the teaching staff. We had predicted excellent results but until it is confirmed you never know, but we are pleased the commitment everybody has put in has been rewarded.
“When a pupil arrives with us he is assigned a teacher that stays the same throughout and I think that continuity has benefitted the children. We also run a reading programme where a certain amount of time is set aside for reading each day and that has helped a lot. We hope to continue that by setting up a link with a local library.
“The results achieved is not just down to us. The first school plays a role before they reach us and that Frome learning partnership is a big part of the success.”
Oakfield Academy saw 95% of its pupils improve their reading by two levels since their key stage one results, this is above the 81% national average. 97% improved by at least two levels in writing compared to the national average of 91%, and 94% of Oakfield pupils improved by two or more levels at maths compared to the national average of 88%.
Critchill School was excluded from the table because they had a statistically insignificant number of pupils (less than 11) sitting the tests.
