PRIMARY school pupils and teachers in East Lancashire deserve congratulations for their performances in the latest government tables.

More youngsters than ever before are leaving primary school having attained the required standard for English, maths and science.

The pass rate for English is 82 per cent in Lancashire schools while 80 per cent passed maths and 89 per cent science.

In Blackburn with Darwen, 80 per cent of pupils passed English, 79 per cent maths and 88 per cent science.

Six of our schools were named in the list of the top 200 performing in the country while six more were in the most improved list.

Last year’s tests for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils were mired in controversy after a series of blunders meant that many schools saw their results either delayed or lost completely.

The problems resulted in tests for Key Stage 3 students being scrapped.

Many critics said that the exams for primary school pupils should also be done away with along with the results league tables.

The government is standing by the tests, which means that, unless there is a change of heart, schools have no choice but to continue the exams despite any misgivings they may have.

At present, they are the only measure of how well our young people are doing in key areas and parents need to know that standards are improving.