The Primary School Performance tables published on Thursday (13 December, 2018) show that the percentage of Year 6 pupils in Wolverhampton schools who reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined this year was 65%, compared to an England average of 64%.
This is the first time that pupils in Wolverhampton have exceeded the national average; the city was also top in Birmingham and the Black Country, and ranked second among the city's 11 'statistical neighbours' - authorities with similar characterises to Wolverhampton.
The performance is repeated in individual subject areas. Some 77% of Wolverhampton pupils met the expected standard in reading, compared to a national average of 75%, while 81% of city pupils met the standard in writing, three percentage points higher than their peers nationwide.
In grammar, punctuation and spelling, 81% of pupils in Wolverhampton met the expected standard, as opposed to 78% nationally. Some 76% of pupils met the expected standard in maths, in line with the national average.
There is also good news in the progress being made by pupils in Reading, Writing and Maths between Year 2 and Year 6. Wolverhampton has been placed in the "above average" category with progress measures of +0.9, +1.2 and +0.5 in the three subjects respectively - a progress measure of zero equates to average progress.
This is the third year in succession that progress has been above average across Key Stage 2 in Wolverhampton, with the city the only area in the West Midlands with this continued positive pattern of progress.
Councillor Lynne Moran, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: "Our Year 6 pupils have performed exceptionally well at Key Stage 2 this year, and I would like to congratulate everyone on this splendid achievement.
"Once again, we are one of the best performing areas in the West Midlands, while the fact that Wolverhampton has also moved above the national average for the first time is an important milestone for us.
"It is so important to our city's future that we give our children a fantastic start in life, but a few years ago, educational attainment in Wolverhampton was simply not good enough. We recognised this and put a number of measures in place to help schools improve - and today's data shows that the efforts of everyone concerned is having the desired impact.
"Make no mistake, this hasn't happened by luck - this is down to the hard work of schools, teachers, governors, parents, pupils and our own council's School Improvement Team, and will set up pupils up very well for life at secondary school.
"However, while this is a time to celebrate education in Wolverhampton, we will not be resting on our laurels. The bar is already raised high but we will be aiming even higher so that we can continue to deliver the very best education for all our city's children."
The Primary School Performance tables 2018, which provide both local authority and school-by-school data, can be found at Type=links;Linkid=11345;Title=Find and Compare schools in England;Target=_blank;.
To find out more about education in Wolverhampton, please visit Type=articles;Articleid=435;Title=Education & schools;.
- released: Friday 14 December, 2018