SWINDON Council was upbeat today about its primary school results, despite the town dropping further behind the national average.

When pass rates for English, maths and science exams for 11-year-olds are added together, the overall average pass rate for Swindon schools is 224.4 per cent, down 1.6 per cent on last year.

That puts the borough 8.6 per cent behind the national average of 233 per cent which increased this year by two per cent and means Swindon is 112th out of 150 local authorities.

The council's director of education, Mike Lusty, said the results at Key Stage Two improved dramatically last year and such progress had been difficult to sustain.

Pass rates in English dropped on average by 0.2 per cent to 71.6 per cent. In mathematics, they fell 2.5 per cent to 67.3 per cent but in science they increased by 1.1 per cent to 85.5 per cent.

Such ups and downs are similar to the national trends, with English remaining at 75 per cent, maths dipping by one per cent to 71 per cent and science improving by two per cent to 87 per cent.

"Last year we saw significant improvements across the board and Swindon was the most improved local education authority in this respect in the South West," said Dr Lusty. "Year on year progress of last year's magnitude is difficult to sustain. However, it is disappointing that the figures have dropped in mathematics"

The council's lead member for education, Garry Perkins (Con, Dorcan) said: "It is reassuring to see that Swindon's results mirror the national trends. This demonstrates how well our teachers have responded to the national literacy and numeracy strategies.

"We have worked with the schools to support them in implementing these strategies and I would like to congratulate all those involved in helping our children do so well."

Among the schools suffering a slump on last year's results was Penhill Primary, which fell to bottom spot in the tables with its pass rates decreasing from 135 per cent to 108 per cent.

Tregoze Primary saw one of the biggest falls in its results, from 287 per cent to 217 per cent, while Chiseldon, Liden, Northview, Rodbourne Cheney and Robert Le Kyng primary schools also saw significant reductions in their pass rates.

Last year's top school, South Marston Primary, could not sustain its perfect 300 per cent result and also fell to 220 per cent.

But headteacher, Gill Llewellyn, said it was an example of how statistics only tell half of the story.

She said: "We only have small numbers on our roll 11 children took the exam this year, which means each pupil represents nearly 10 per cent of the overall pass rate. We also happened to have more special needs children this year, and they did fantastically well, but that is bound to affect the overall results.

"The problem with using raw data is that you are not comparing the same children and the same circumstances. We still have the same teaching staff and we are still as good a school as we've always been."

Second from bottom of the table was Oak Tree Nursery and Primary School, which actually improved from 98 per cent to 122 per cent.

Headteacher Ann Harris said: "We're pleased with the progress we've made and we're confident the results will continue to improve. There's a ceiling of course for every school but we've got capacity for improvement and the ability to achieve that."