BRADFORD has jumped 15 places in the national league tables for primary school results, according to new figures.

However, despite the good progress, Bradford still remains towards the bottom end of the table of best performing local authority areas, up from 139th in 2016, when Bradford was the joint fifth worst performer, to 124th this year.

The official Key Stage 2 figures for 2017 were released by the Department for Education yesterday, and show that children in Bradford are making better progress in reading, writing and maths during their primary school education than pupils in most areas of Yorkshire.

The data shows that Bradford has the joint highest score in the Yorkshire region for the progress being made in maths and the third highest score for the progress being made in reading and writing, out of the 15 education authority areas.

Across Bradford 57 per cent of 11-year-old pupils reached or bettered the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. This was an increase of ten per cent on 2015/16 and closes the gap with the national average by two per cent. Nationally 61 per cent of pupils achieved this.

Two-thirds of Bradford pupils (66 per cent) are reaching the expected standard in reading, an increase of nine per cent on 2016.

The data also shows that a number of Bradford schools failed to meet the government’s “floor standard.” Schools are considered to be under-performing if fewer than 65 per cent of pupils reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, or if they fail to make sufficient progress in these areas.

Local schools that failed to meet this target were Fearnville Primary School in Tyersal, Lister Primary School in Manningham, Parkland Primary School in Greengates, Nessfield Primary School in Keighley, Oldfield Primary School in Keighley and Pudsey Tyersal Primary School.

The top performing school in the district based on based on the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was Burley and Woodhead CofE Primary School.

Councillor Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Education, Employment and Skills said: “There are very encouraging signs in this latest set of league tables which show that our pupils are making good progress during their primary school education.

"We know that we have more to do to ensure Bradford closes the gap with the national average but all the signs are there that we are in the process of doing this.

“We have lots of excellent work taking place across our primary schools. We support and challenge schools where this is necessary and will do everything we can to ensure Bradford pupils have access to the best possible education.”