NEW figures show that Hampshire schools are outperforming the national average – against new targets relating to reading, writing and maths.

The key stage two tests, more commonly known as SATS, are taken by every child at the end of their primary school education.

Peter Edgar, the county council’s executive nember for education, said: “I’m delighted to see Hampshire schools have performed well above the provisional national average in this latest set of key stage two results.

“Not only are we celebrating a great result against the provisional national average, but based on the provisional data we have been analysing we can also be very proud of our performance when measured against the other local authority areas that compare most closely with us statistically.

“This is testament to the hard work of pupils and teachers across Hampshire, and to great leadership from headteachers.

“It also directly reflects the input of our dedicated team of local authority advisers, who have been providing workshops and training for schools, enabling them to quickly get to grips with a new system of assessment that is markedly different.

“We have seen that those schools who have taken up our offer of support in preparing for the new tests, have seen better results on average. Therefore, I would like to congratulate our county council advisers, who have all been experienced teachers and headteachers previously, on the valuable contribution they have made to this result.”

Mr Edgar added: “Following the introduction of a far more rigorous curriculum in 2014, the Government’s benchmark of performance has been significantly raised this year.

“Raising the bar has meant that fewer children nationally, as well as in Hampshire, have met the new attainment level.

“Against these new standards, Hampshire’s numbers of children achieving age-related expectations is well above the national average.

“Schools are making a transition to a more rigorous system, and this means that while children are still performing at the same high level, this is not always reflected by the results.

“I can appreciate this difference in results will be hard to accept for those pupils and teachers who have worked hard to drive up standards.”

And he added: “I would urge parents and pupils to remember the drop in numbers meeting the national standard does not reflect a drop in performance but a raising of the bar.

“Hampshire’s schools can be very proud. It’s an excellent set of results.”