HALF of primary schools in Basingstoke scored below the national average in this year’s SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) sat by Year 6 children in May.

Across England, 79 per cent of schools achieved level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths, which is the level pupils are expected to reach by the time they leave primary school.

In Basingstoke, 11 schools were below the national average, and 11 were above it.

The top performing school in Basingstoke was Oakridge Junior School, where 98 per cent of pupils achieved a level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths – a two per cent increase on its score for 2013.

The lowest performing school was Merton Junior School, in Popley, where 64 per cent of pupils achieved level 4 or above in all three subject areas. However, this was still a huge increase on its results from 2013, when just 38 per cent of pupils hit the benchmark.

Winklebury Junior School had the biggest increase in its results on last year – a total of 92 per cent of pupils achieved a level 4 in reading, writing and maths, compared to 74 per cent in 2013.

The biggest drop in results was seen at Great Binfields Primary School, in Lychpit, where 73 per cent of pupils achieved level 4 or above in all three subjects, compared with 88 per cent last year.

Rucstall Primary School achieved the top results in Basingstoke for children making the expected progress in reading, with 100 per cent of pupils making two or more levels of progress between Key Stage 1 and 2.

Both Great Binfields Primary School and Oakridge Junior School saw 100 per cent of pupils make the expected progress in writing.

Oakridge Junior School also had the top results for maths, with 98 per cent of pupils making the expected progress.

The school, in Oakridge Road, also had the highest percentage of pupils achieving level 4b – where the test result is in the top two-thirds of a level 4 mark. Ninety-three per cent of pupils at the school achieved level 4b, compared to 67 per cent nationally.

Manor Field Junior School, in Haydn Road, Brighton Hill, had the lowest percentage of pupils achieving level 4b, at 45 per cent.

Across Hampshire, 82 per cent of pupils achieved level 4 or above in all subjects, which was an increase from 78 per cent in 2013. This puts the county in the top quarter of authorities nationally.

Councillor Peter Edgar, the county’s executive member for education, said: “I congratulate Hampshire’s children and their schools for the outstanding results achieved in this year’s Key Stage 2 SATs.

“These results reflect the high expectations and hard work of our children, teachers and local authority staff.

“Those children have now started secondary school ready for the next phase of their education. We are immensely proud of, and ambitious for, our schools and the pupils who are educated by them. The schools provide a fantastic service for Hampshire children, supported by an authority recognised by Ofsted for the quality of education.

“We are committed to supporting and challenging our family of schools in order that they continue to achieve high standards and strive to improve further.

“Our primary schools are among the very best in the country and these results reflect the high standards of the children, parents, teachers, governors and local authority staff.”