OXFORDSHIRE primary schools are celebrating improved results in national tests for 11-year-olds.
Each summer, before they leave primary school, Year Six pupils take Key Stage Two National Curriculum tests - and the 2007 results are published today Seven primary schools have achieved 100 per cent in English, maths and science at level four, the standard the Government expects pupils to reach.
They are Combe, near Woodstock, Ewelme, near Wallingford, Fritwell, near Bicester, Shenington, Wroxton and Cropredy, near Banbury, and Shiplake near Henley.
In English at level four, pupils beat the national average and matched the national average in maths and science.
And at level five, the most challenging, pupils' results in the three subjects were a marginal improvement on the national average.
Ranked first out of more than 200 primary schools in the county was Fritwell, which was last year ranked 10th.
Joanne Daly, headteacher at the 179-pupil school, said: "We have achieved this position through sheer hard work, and ensuring there is early intervention for pupils who need pushing in the core subjects.
"A few years ago, the number of pupils on the roll was below 100 but the roll has been growing year by year.
"Results have been improving every year for the past four or five years and, as I have only been head since September, the credit must go to the previous head Clare Critchley."
Combe was ranked third in the county.
Headteacher Barbara Jones said: "Children here actually enjoy the tests. I don't have a problem with the tests, but I don't agree with the league tables.
"Our school is in a leafy village and our pupils want to learn and have parents who support them.
"To compare us with a school in a more challenging inner city location is not fair."
Mrs Jones said the school mixed lessons with lots of sporting activities including tag rugby, cricket and football.
"After school, parents should listen to their children, read and talk to them."
Claire Robinson, headteacher of St Thomas More Catholic Primary School in Kidlington, said all pupils who sat the test achieved a 100 per cent score at level five for science.
Earlier this month, the school was listed third in the top 10 state primary schools in the South East in The Sunday Times guide, following an analysis of Key Stage Two results from 2004-2006.
Mrs Robinson said: "Our results are consistently high, they are not a flash in the pan. As well as challenging pupils academically we try to develop them as all-round individuals so they can cope at secondary school and in the world of work."
St Philip and St James's CofE Primary School in Navigation Way, North Oxford, came ninth in the county, one place down from last year.
Kate Hanlon, assistant headteacher, said: "These tables are just a snapshot, but we are really proud that children have worked so hard and that children are so committed."
Eleven schools in the county are in the top five per cent nationally for their "contextual value added" results.
This CVA score measures how much progress pupils at these schools have made from the end of Key Stage One to the end of Key Stage Two.
The 11 are Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford, Eynsham, Fritwell, Kings Meadow, in Bicester, Leafield, near Witney, St Edmund's and Rush Common in Abingdon, Sibford Gower near Banbury, South Moreton, near Didcot, Watlington, and Banbury's William Morris.
Clifton Hampden, which had too few pupils to be included in the tables, also had a CVA measure in the top five per cent of schools nationally.
Michael Waine, the county council's cabinet member for school improvement, said: "It's been another good year for Oxfordshire schools, but we are constantly striving to improve our results.
"Some schools have performed exceptionally well and it is good to see that overall Oxfordshire primary schools are performing above the national average."
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