SHEFFIELD primary schools are set to pull themselves out of the relegation zone following the release of this summer's provisional test results for 11-year-olds.
This year's Standard Assessment Tests - SATs - have been dogged by a succession of problems across the country, and while only three per cent of the city's maths and science results are still unavailable, eight per cent of the English scores are miss
ing.
But education chiefs are confident the results available are statistically viable - although they say a record number of papers will have to be re-marked following complaints by individual schools.
Pass rates for English to date are 75 per cent - up one - while maths scores are 74 per cent, up three. The science pass rate is also up one, to 85 per cent.
The percentage of pupils passing both English and maths - a measure becoming increasingly important to ministers - is up two per cent to 66.
Encouragingly for schools, the gap between Sheffield and national pass rates has narrowed by three percentage points, compared with last year when no progress was made at all.
As a result Sheffield slid in the 2007 national table of local authorities to 147th out of 150, the worst performance ever.
But this year the forecast is that Sheffield should climb the table, to around 123rd.
Coun Mike Reynolds, cabinet adviser on children's services, said this year's SATs process had been "a mess, a shambles and a scandal".
"Many youngsters who are in the process of moving from primary to secondary education have been left in limbo and will be very anxious how they have done," he said.
"There are still results missing at a local level and so we cannot over-analyse, but the pattern in Sheffield is of modest but continuing impr-ovement. Any subsequent changes will push the figures up, we believe.
"The slide has been turned around and we are determined to narrow the gap with national pass rates still further."
Coun Reynolds said the focus now would be both on individual children and schools that were struggling - some of those already targeted had made dramatic progress.
A new strategy to boost attainment and aspirations would be unveiled in the autumn, he added.
In Rotherham, pass rates are up by two per cent overall, despite a one point drop in English.
Barnsley's scores are up by four per cent, including a three per cent boost in maths.
Doncaster faired best of all, with a six per cent overall increase.
Nationally, English and maths results both improved by one per cent.
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