NEARLY a quarter of all primary schools in the Capital have improved in reading, writing and maths over the past year, it was revealed today.
Pupils have achieved record results in the three Rs across the board, with the vast majority passing comfortably, following what the city council said was a drive to increase basic skills.
A total of 85 per cent of children achieved the minimum st
andards in reading and maths, while 79 per cent met the basic requirements in writing – all up on the previous year.
However, there are still several schools who are failing to meet basic standards in the three Rs, particularly those in deprived areas, sparking calls for yet more to be done.
Pupils aged between five and 14 are graded using specially-developed national assessments, though not formal exams, which are designed to be used by teachers to confirm their judgements about pupils' levels of attainment.
Today's figures show some primaries have managed to make remarkable progress, achieving healthy improvements in all three subjects.
It comes after education bosses committed to driving up attainment across the city took the "good practice" used in high achieving schools and applied it to those schools which were failing to meet the basic standards.
One of the 22 schools which falls into this category is Royston Primary, which is currently facing closure. Royston was one of the worst-performing schools last year in all three subjects, but has now seen huge improvements.
Other schools which have seen standards rise in all of the three Rs include Stenhouse, Hillwood, Dalry and Pirniehall.
City education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren said: "Edinburgh can be proud of its education service.
"Our schools have made huge progress in adapting their approach to the particular needs of the communities they serve and this focus is really paying off.
"I've visited the majority of schools in the city and I've seen, first hand, the top quality learning and teaching that takes place alongside a relentless enthusiasm for progress."
The best performing school this year – and last year – is St Peter's in Morningside, which achieved the best marks in reading and maths, and the second highest in writing, with Trinity Primary coming out on top in that subject. The worst performing school this year was Canal View in Wester Hailes which had the lowest marks in reading and maths, and the second lowest marks in writing. Only half the pupils there met basic writing standards, while just 51 per cent met the required reading standards.
The school did only slightly better in maths, with 58 per cent of children passing, which is down from 64 per cent last year.
Canal View was one of the receiving schools for Westburn Primary – which had one of the worst attainment figures last year – when council bosses closed it at the start of the summer.
Councillor Alison Johnstone, the Green education spokeswoman, said more resources need to be ploughed into struggling schools.
She said: "I welcome the improvement in attainment across the board and in schools such as Royston who are clearly making the most of opportunities to ensure that children are achieving the expected standards. However, there's still too large a gap between some of our highest achieving and lowest achieving schools.
"At the same time as we continue to make improvements, we have to really focus on those schools where attainment is lowest because there's no point continuing to do well across the board when we have schools which are often 40 per cent behind.
"Without doubt, different schools have different challenges and in order to make sure we have as level a playing field as possible, we have to make sure if extra resources are needed, that we make them available."
Royston turns things around for big improvementCLOSURE-threatened Royston Primary is one of the 22 schools which has shown most improvement in the three Rs in the past year.
From being one of the worst-performing schools last year, it has driven its attainment figures up quite dramatically.
It has increased reading standards by 10 per cent, with 71 per cent of children achieving minimum standards.
It has also improved maths attainment by 12 per cent to ensure that 60 per cent of children are achieving the basics, and writing by nine per cent, so that 59 per cent of pupils are gaining passes.
Grant Cunningham, chairman of the school's parent council, said this is down to more focus being put on the three Rs, new homework clubs and encouraging parental involvement.
He said: "Our new headteacher has really turned things around from the position we were in last year and parents are 100 per cent behind him because of it.
"There's more homework being given out – certainly to my two kids – and they get reading diaries which are sent home and parents are asked to fill them in."
