THE PROGRESS made by children in Bradford district during their time at primary school is above the national average, new figures have revealed.

The recently-introduced progress scoring system gauges the development of children between Years 3 and 6.

Under the formula, the national average is always expressed as zero, with scores of more than zero being regarded as above average. Bradford scored 0.9 on progress, placing it above the national average, according to primary school league tables released by the Department for Education.

Meanwhile, 71 schools in the district saw the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard in writing, reading and maths by the end of Key Stage 2 come in above the national average of 64 per cent.

However, 77 primary schools remain below the national average, and the Bradford average has also remained under the national average, at 61 per cent, but this is a four percentage point increase on 2017 and 14 percentage point rise from 2016.

Data was unavailable or not applicable for the remaining 41 schools in the district.

The school which achieved the highest scores in the district was Little Horton-based Copthorne Primary School.

The school, part of the Exceed Academies Trust, saw 98 per cent of pupils achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Copthorne’s progress ratings were also well above the national average, placing the school in the top ten per cent of primary schools in the country, with 8.5 in maths, 8.4 in reading, and 6.2 in writing.

The next three top performing schools from across the district were Horton Park Primary School in Canterbury, Burley & Woodhead CofE Primary School in Burley-in-Wharfedale - the highest ranked Council-maintained school - and Bankfoot Primary School, Bankfoot.

Chris Shepherd, executive headteacher at Copthorne, paid tribute to her “incredible” pupils, staff, parents and headteacher Frances Whalley.

She said: “We are more than delighted for our school, and the Trust which had four of the top five schools for pupil progress.

“It comes after extraordinarily hard work by our staff, pupils and parents, we’ve had a clear focus in challenging our children which has had a positive impact and outcome“Every child but one that did their SATs achieved the expected level, we are so happy for them."

Councillor Imran Khan, executive member for education, said: “What these figures show is that many of the initiatives used by primary schools, ranging from cluster led reading programmes, mathematics mastery classes, to individual schools’ use of precision teaching, are beginning to have the desired impact on the raising of standards at Key Stage 2.

“As ever, we shall continue to strive to improve until all of the district’s primary schools are improving results and achieving positive progress measures.

“We’re confident we have the right leadership in place in our schools to achieve this, meaning that our children have a great start to their learning which they can carry on into their secondary education and beyond.”