Islington Tribune - by JAMIE WELHAM Published: 7 December 2007
Schools fail to hit targets
PRIMARY schoolchildren in Islington are failing to meet expected standards in English and maths, according to figures released this week.
Islington was ranked 25th out of 33 boroughs in London, and 120th out of 150 education authorities in England – with nearly a quarter of children aged 10 and 11 falling short of targets in English and maths.
Annual figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families released yesterday (Thursday) show 23 per cent of children in Islington are not attaining level four in English and are leaving primaries lacking the reading and writing skills to cope at secondary school.
The figure is marginally worse for maths, with 26 per cent of children underachieving, and a little better for science, where the figure is 15 per cent.
Apart from science, the results fall well short of government targets that 85 per cent of children should reach level four at key stage 2. But they are an improvement on last year, with six per cent more children making level four. Maths sees the biggest year-on-year improvement, with the borough leaping 32 places to 113th in the league table.