The figures will be presented to City of York Council’s Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee later this week (19 November) together with other schools’ data for 2014.The data shows that results for children at the end of their reception school year (age 5) placed York in the top 20 per cent of local authorities in the country and have improved in line with the national trend. Crucially, given the council’s commitment to narrow the attainment gap between the city’s most disadvantaged children and their peers, the gap between the achievement of pupils eligible for Free School Meals and their peers has narrowed by 8 percentage points since 2013.The results of children at Key Stage 1 (age 7) and Key Stage 2 (age 11) were in line with the national average, with the attainment gap between pupils receiving Free School meals and their peers having narrowed consistently for the last three years at Key Stage 2.

Key Stage 4 results (age 16) put York as the best performing authority in the region and 20th out of 152 authorities nationally, based on pupils gaining 5A*-C including English and maths on the new first entry performance measure. However, the gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their peers at Key Stage 4 increased.

Jon Stonehouse, Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills, City of York Council, said: “The latest data from Ofsted shows that we’re getting closer to achieving our ambition that every child or young person in York attends a school that’s classed as good or outstanding.

“While early years and Key Stage results show that York pupils are performing well compared to the national picture, we know that there are some areas where we need to see further improvement.

“A key focus is narrowing the gap between the attainment of the city’s most disadvantaged young people and their peers to enable all young people in York to fulfil their potential.. Although work is ongoing, I’m encouraged by the reduction in the gap at age five and hope to see this trend continue in the future.”