The test results for 11-year-olds published on Tuesday have shown that schools will have to make considerable improvements to meet the government's targets for English and maths.

David Blunkett predicts that standards will rise once the literacy and numeracy projects are in place

But Mr Blunkett says the level of improvement among those schools adopting measures such as dedicating an hour each day to literacy and numeracy shows how much will be achieved once the schemes are applied in all schools.

"The numeracy strategy starting in September includes a daily maths hour which will bring times tables back into the classroom and see pupils holding back on calculators until they know how to do sums in their heads.

"Last year we introduced a new mental arithmetic test for the first time as part of the tests for 11-year-olds: this will help us establish how much we need to do to improve children's skills in this area.

"The literacy hour will see children learning phonics - the traditional method where youngsters learn the sounds of words - as well as spelling and grammar.

"I am confident that these initiatives will mean we can make the improvements needed to reach our challenging targets.

Mr Blunkett congratulated schools whose results in English, maths and science have consistently improved since 1996.

"Teyfant Community School in Bristol, West Walker Primary School in Newcastle and Mayflower School in Tower Hamlets are examples of schools which are getting the basics right," he said.

"Teyfant's English results have made significant improvements while the aggregate scores for the three tests for West Walker Primary School and the Mayflower School are roughly treble the 1996 score."

His department has published a list showing how some schools have apparently benefited from taking part in the pilot National Literacy Project or National Numeracy Project since 1996.

The final column shows the percentage point improvement for English or mathematics at Level 4, Key Stage 2 between 1996 and 1998:

SCHOOL	LEA	GAIN
In the literacy pilot:
Vauxhall Junior Mixed and Infant	Lambeth	58
Hungerford Primary School	Islington	45
Keyworth Primary	Southwark	47
St Paul's CofE Junior Mixed and Infant	Southwark	54
St George's Cathedral RC Primary School	Southwark	45
Knight's Enham Junior School	Hampshire	44
St John's CE Junior and Infant School	Sandwell	46
Cof E of the Resurrection	Manchester	51
Heald Place Primary School	Manchester	44
St Patrick's RC Primary	Manchester	44
In the numeracy pilot:
Calverton Primary School	Newham	63
Tidemill Primary School	Lewisham	46
St John's CofE School	Tower Hamlets	43
Wallbrook Primary School	Dudley	56
Kate's Hill Primary School	Dudley	55
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Primary	Blackburn with Darwen	55
St Wulstan's RC School	Lancashire	51
Hoyland St Helen's RC Primary	Barnsley	47
Kendray Primary School	Barnsley	45
Brierley CofE Primary School	Barnsley	58
Deaf Hill Primary School	Durham	43