A Kingston primary school has received an award from the Mayor, the result of its outstanding improvement over the last 12 months.
A certificate and etched glass award were presented by Mayor Patrick Codd to King Athelstan Primary School last Friday.
Headteacher, Ms Emily Newton, and Executive Headteacher, Ms Janet Tuck, collected the award.
Upon receiving the award, Ms Tuck said: “We have high expectations for the attainment of our pupils but we also have, which we feel is more important, a desire to instil in our children a thirst for knowledge, a love for learning and the ability to access education through developing life changing skills of resilience, respect and empathy for others.”
Key Stage 2 exam results, published by the Department of Education, showed that the Villiers Road school scored 73 per cent for the percentage of pupils attaining the Government target of Level Four or above in English and Mathematics.
Key Stage 2 exams are taken by pupils aged 11.
This is a vast improvement on the score of 54 per cent obtained a year ago, which was below the government-set benchmark of 60 per cent of pupils achieving Level Four.
At the time the school was branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, but its impressive turnaround has since seen this rating changed to ‘good’.
The success of King Athelstan is reflective of an overall improvement by primary schools in the Royal Borough of Kingston, which has seen it advance from eleventh to fourth in the country for pupils attaining Level Four or above.
Results were published in the 2011 Key Stage 2 Performance Tables.
A council spokesperson said: “We are once again extremely proud of the achievements of the Royal Borough of Kingston’s Year 6 pupils. The majority of our schools have high or above average attainment, which is confirmed by Ofsted.”
Special mention was given to King Athelston, along with St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and King’s Oak Primary School.
St. Joseph’s and King’s Oak also rose above the 60 per cent Government benchmark, but the progress of King Athelstan has been the most significant.
The only Kingston school to fall below the Government benchmark this year was Lovelace Primary School in Chessington, which scored 58 per cent.
The council is working with the school on an improvement plan to ensure stronger outcomes next year.
