Pupils from North Somerset primary schools have beaten the national average in their SATs results by nearly 20 per cent.

Youngsters across the district sat the primary school exams in May, and will be receiving their results in the next few weeks.

A Department for Education (DfE) report released on July 5 showed only 53 per cent of children reached the expected standard; however North Somerset students have achieved an estimated overall average of 72 per cent.

North Somerset Council released the local authority percentage in comparison to the national figures: 70 per cent of students attained the expected standard in reading, 76 per cent in writing, 71 per cent in grammar, punctuation and spelling and 69 per cent in maths.

Reading and writing outstripped the national average, while grammar and mathematics fell short by just one per cent.

In recent years, North Somerset primary schools have been in the top 30 local authority figures in Britain, scoring an average of 83 per cent in last year’s exams.

However, the DfE radically changed the tests this year, and has been widely criticised for making them more difficult.

Bournville Primary School has already released results to its students and headteacher Adam Matthews says the change makes different years’ results an ‘apples to bananas’ comparison.

He said: “We cannot compare it with last year’s average. It is a case of judging against a new curriculum and a different set of standards.

“We need to wait and see what the Government progress measure is, what the national averages are and how our schools compare before looking at the next steps to take.”

New exams see SATs measured on a scaled system; a pupil must score 60 out of 110 in maths, 21 out of 50 in reading and 43 out of 70 in grammar to achieve the target 100 score.

Mr Matthews said: “North Somerset primary schools are a tight family that pride themselves on excellence and working together.

“We will all work together to improve in whichever areas require it, if any, and more importantly, continue to build on our success so that North Somerset’s children continue to get the best results.”