Local primary school governor Cllr. Alan Salter reports: “Sutton’s schoolchildren are celebrating after achieving their best-ever results in the recent Key Stage 2 examinations”.

The English and maths tests, taken by Year 6 pupils in their final months at primary school, are a vital indicator of a child’s early educational achievement.

Fellow local primary school governor, Cllr. Jill Whitehead says: “Overall in the Government’s preferred combination of maths and English results, Sutton pupils achieved an extraordinary 85.1%, up from last year’s 81.8% – which was the third best in the country.”

Cllr. Dave Callaghan, Chair of Sutton’s Children, Family and Education Committee, said: “This is a magnificent achievement. I would like to congratulate the hard-working staff and pupils of each and every primary school in the borough. “Our primary schools are doing a great job in preparing children for secondary school and life after education.”

The highest results were achieved at St Mary’s Junior School in Carshalton where an astonishing 98.5% of the pupils gained the Level 4+ grade required to pass.

The biggest year-on-year increase was recorded by pupils at Hackbridge Primary School in Wallington which saw its results leap from 56.9% in 2011 to 77.8% this year, an improvement of more than 20%.

The borough’s schools also recorded huge success in the tougher Level 5 rating. In English, 44.5% of all pupils reached this grade up from 35.8% in 2011. And in maths 49.2% hit Level 5 – up from 48.2% last year.

Cllr Callaghan added: “I am particularly pleased that our schools are doing such a good job in encouraging bright pupils to achieve their potential.”