§ Mr. BowisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, if he will publish the test results of seven-year-olds for Lambeth and Tower Hamlets; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI undertook on 19 December that I would publish the test results from Lambeth and Tower Hamlets as soon as I had them. Parents and community charge payers have every right to know how their schools are performing. My Department had to press these two LEAs to get their results out.
The results demonstrate that both Lambeth and Tower Hamlets need to give urgent attention to raising standards in their schools. In every single table both authorities are in the bottom quarter of LEAs. In the fundamental skill of reading, Lambeth succeeds in getting only 66 per cent. of its seven-year-olds to the level 2 targets for the age group and Tower Hamlets only 53 per cent. This must be a cause for immediate concern.
The table sets out those results which were missing from the report on the national and local results published on 19 December. Copies of the tables published on 19 December, revised to take in the results from Lambeth and Tower Hamlets, have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Percentage of pupils at level 2 and above Percentage of pupils at level 3 English Lambeth 71 19 Tower Hamlets 64 15 Mathematics Lambeth 68 10 Tower Hamlets 63 7 Science Tower Hamlets 85 23 Lambeth 80 26
Percentage of pupils at level 2 and above Percentage of pupils at level 3 Reading Lambeth 66 14 Tower Hamlets 53 14 English Mathematics and Science Lambeth 73 18 Tower Hamlets 71 15 The results are based on returns from 83 per cent. of relevant primary schools in Lambeth and from 74 per cent. of relevant primary schools in Tower Hamlets.
This summer I will require all local education authorities to send me the results of the tests of seven-year-olds from all of their schools. I do not expect the delays that occurred in last year's exercise to happen again.