Peterborough council education chief claims authority's 'approach is working' - as city slumps to bottom of the league tables

The Peterborough Telegraph revealed yesterday Peterborough sits 149 out of 149 authorities to have published Key Stage 2 results. Last year Peterborough finished second bottom of the tables.

The city saw 52 per cent of pupils hit national targets in the Three Rs - reading, writing and maths - compared to a national score across England of 64 per cent

However, Councillor Lynne Ayres, Peterborough City Council’s cabinet member for education, said: "The results as they stand now show we are continuing to move in the right direction and that our approach is working, particularly in reading which is a major area of focus for city schools."

Cllr Ayres said the results published yesterday are provisional results, and could be altered when validated scores are published in the winter.

In last year's provisional results, 51 per cent of pupils reached the expected results, compared to 52 per cent in the validated scores.

The statistics also show 65 per cent of pupils hit the expected target in reading, 70 per cent in spelling, punctuation and grammar, and 66 per cent in maths. These figures compare with last year's validated totals, when 63 per cent hit the expected figure in reading, 70 per cent in spelling, punctuation and grammar, although 68 per cent hit the target in maths in 2017.

Last year's provisional scores saw 61 per cent of pupils hit the targets in reading, 69 in spelling, punctuation and grammar, and 67 in maths.

Cllr Ayres added: "It is also worth noting that 84 per cent of the city’s primary schools have been judged by OfSTED to be either Good or Outstanding.

“However, the council, all schools and everyone involved in education in Peterborough remain conscious that much more needs to be done to close the gap to the national average in all subjects and we remain fully committed to achieving this.”

More: Peterborough sits rock bottom of education league tables