London primaries show way forward

Two London primary schools are today celebrating an unprecedented triumph in national league tables.

However, the 2004 primary school league tables - published in the Evening Standard today - show London lags behind the rest of England when it comes to the performance of 11-year-olds in national curriculum English, maths and science tests.

Schools are ranked by the proportion of pupils who reached Level 4, the required standard in each of the three tests.

Sherington head Diane Atkinson said there had been a high turnover of staff when she took over three years ago. Her first priority was to "stabilise" her staff before getting on with the job of improving standards, she said.