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90% per cent of pupils offered their first choice of
primary school and 97.2% were offered a place at one of their
top three last year
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Disadvantage gap index at Key Stage 2 down 10.5% since
2011
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825,000 new school places created since 2010 – with
90,000 more over 2016-17 alone
Pupils across the country will find out today (Monday 16 April)
which primary school they will be going to in September, amid
rising education standards in England.
Figures show 97.2 per cent of pupils were offered one of their
top three primary schools in 2017 and follows the creation of
825,000 new school places since 2010.
Families will receive their offers as standards continue to rise
thanks to the government’s reforms and the hard work of teachers,
with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools
than in 2010 and nine out of ten schools awarded this rating at
their last inspection.
School Standards Minister said:
This morning, thousands of pupils and their parents will find
out which primary school they will be going to this September.
Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, academic
standards in our primary schools are rising across the country.
Our young readers are among the best in the world, the
proportion of primary school pupils reaching the expected
standards in reading, writing and maths standards went up 8
percentage points last year and the attainment gap between
children from wealthier and poorer backgrounds has narrowed by
10.5% since 2011.
A good primary school education lays the foundations for
success at secondary school and beyond, so it is right that we
help make sure every child reaches their potential from the
moment they start their education. That’s why we’re investing
£5.8 billion to create even more good schools and good school
places – building on the 825,000 we’ve created since 2010 –
resulting in 9 out of 10 pupils securing one of their top three
choices of schools.
Academic standards are rising following the introduction of a
more rigorous primary school curriculum to match the best
education systems in the world, with latest performance data
showing:
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The gap between disadvantaged pupils and others in a combined
measure of English, reading and mathematics has decreased in
each of the last six years, narrowing by 1.3% in the latest
year and 10.5% since 2011;
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There are now 154,000 more six-year-olds on track to become
fluent readers than in 2012, with England’s recent rise up
the international PIRLS rankings putting the success of the
government’s reforms on a global scale; and
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In 2017 72% met the expected standard in reading, 75% in
maths and 77% in grammar, punctuation and spelling.
On top of this, the government has invested in programmes to help
raise standards in these crucial early years of education,
including a £26 million network of specialist English Hubs around
the country to improve pupils’ literacy and £41 million to follow
the same approach to teaching maths as world leading countries
through the Shanghai Mastery for Maths programme. This is on top
of wider changes to the primary assessment system which will
reduce unnecessary workload for teachers so they can focus on
what really matters in the classroom.
