Kent schools bottom of the class

Primary school tables are based on Sats tests taken across England

Kent fared badly in the government's primary school league tables with 17 entries in the bottom 200 schools and only one in the top 200.

Bysing Wood, Faversham is 7th from bottom; Chantry, Gravesend is 11th and Birchwood, Swanley is 12th.

Colliers Green C of E Primary, at Cranbrook is in the top 200.

Director of education, Graham Badman, admitted the results are disappointing. "We cannot claim we are satisfied with the current performance," he said.

There is a concentration on the 11-plus which tends to put children off the kind of education they should be getting Martin Frey

The results are based on Sats attainment tests taken by all 10 and 11-year-old children in England in their final year of primary school (key stage 2).

"The same kids go on to deliver Kent's very high performance at GCSE," said Mr Badman.

Critics of the 11-plus examination taken by children in Kent the same year blame this for the poor Sats results.

"There is a concentration on the 11-plus, which tends to put children off getting the kind of education they should be getting," said Martin Frey, a spokesman for Stop the Eleven Plus (STEP). which campaigns against the 11-plus.

But Mr Badman said that although he could understand the logic of the argument, there was no evidence to support it.

He also said it might be possible to move the 11-plus into the early autumn to allow teachers to focus on Sats later in the school year.

Colliers Green school has only 108 pupils, with teaching in mixed-year groups.

Headteacher Joyce Nash said: "We are very fortunate in that we have the right mix - a healthy staff, pupils who want to come to school, a lovely location and supportive parents."