he proportion of main faculty pupils who met the anticipated normal in studying on this yr’s Sats exams has fallen, official statistics present.

The Key Stage 2 Sats outcomes, which assess pupils’ attainment in literacy and maths by the top of Year 6 in colleges in England, confirmed that 73% achieved the anticipated normal in studying, down from 75% in 2022.

It comes after mother and father and lecturers complained that this yr’s Sats studying paper was too troublesome, with stories that some workers struggled to grasp the questions and a few youngsters have been lowered to tears.

On Tuesday, main faculty heads reported points with accessing their pupils’ Sats outcomes via a Government web site for the second yr in a row.

Overall, 59% of pupils met the anticipated normal in all of studying, writing and maths this yr – the identical as final yr.

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School leaders are anticipated to get issues proper, adhering to deadlines for finishing duties and submitting information; the identical expectations have to be met by the Government

In 2019, 65% achieved the anticipated normal in all three areas.

The Government’s intention is for 90% of kids to depart main faculty having achieved the anticipated requirements in studying, writing and maths by 2030.

The Department for Education (DfE) mentioned this yr’s cohort of Year 6 pupils skilled disruption to their studying throughout the pandemic – significantly on the finish of Year 3 and in Year 4.

In particular person topics, scores have been larger than final yr, or the identical, in all areas other than studying.

In complete, 73% of pupils met the anticipated normal in maths, up from 71% in 2022, whereas 71% met the anticipated normal in writing, up from 69% final yr.

Meanwhile, 80% met the anticipated normal in science, up from 79% in 2022, whereas 72% met the anticipated normal in grammar, punctuation and spelling, unchanged from final yr.

The authorities’s goal of 90% of kids attaining the anticipated normal in studying, writing and maths is a pipe-dream in these circumstances

Tiffnie Harris, main specialist on the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), mentioned: “It is extremely difficult to raise standards when schools are struggling to put a qualified teacher in front of every class.

“Primary education is very poorly funded to the point where small schools are sometimes close to being financially unsustainable.

“The Government’s target of 90% of children achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths is a pipe-dream in these circumstances.”

Primary faculty leaders struggled to entry their Sats outcomes on Tuesday.

Sarah Hannafin, head of coverage at college leaders’ union NAHT, mentioned: “It’s beyond belief that for the second successive year schools have had issues logging into the Primary Assessment Gateway system, which they use to access results.

“We were assured that changes had been made so there would not be a repeat this time around. However, from 7.30am this morning, many schools had similar problems as leaders tried to access their results before starting another busy school day.

“The Government has made SATs extremely high stakes for schools, so it should come as no surprise that demand to access the system on the morning results are released is high.

“School leaders are expected to get things right, adhering to deadlines for completing tasks and submitting data; the same expectations must be met by the Government.”

A spokeswoman for marketing campaign group More Than A Score mentioned: “SATs fail all children. Throughout Year 6, pupils have spent too much time cramming for government tests which will never provide an accurate picture of all that they can do, or the overall performance of their school.

“For months, instead of enjoying a broad, rich curriculum, they focused on English and maths, only to then face a reading paper which was condemned by heads, teachers and parents for its inappropriateness and difficulty.”