PRIMARY school pupils across the South Lakes area have been pronounced top of the class by MP Tim Farron after performing superbly in the recent SATs tests.

In 60 per cent of schools in the area, the proportion of children achieving the expected levels of success in reading, writing and maths increased since 2017, and Mr Farron said the every credit was due to all those involved.

“These results are testament to the hard work of children, parents and teachers across our area," said the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP.

“The Government have made SATs even tougher this year and the pressure on both pupils and teachers to perform is greater than ever before.

“So, I hope they are all celebrating these very impressive results – we should be very proud of them.”

Special praise was reserved for three particular schools, Hawkshead Esthwaite Primary School in Ambleside, Grayrigg CE Primary in Kendal and Grange CE Primary School, with the trio gaining the largest increases of all primary schools in the area.

Top of the tree was Hawkshead Esthwaite, which remarkably raised the percentage of pupils achieving expected levels of success in all those three main disciplines from 50 per cent to 82 per cent, and head teacher Carol Sharp was justifiably delighted at the news and said the school motto 'Together We Make a Difference' was never more appropriate.

"I am very proud that the attainment of our pupils exceeded national expectations in all subjects and across all age groups," she said.

"Our curriculum is exciting and our learners are active and engaged and pupils all love coming to school.

"All of these factors make our school a special place to be.

"This progress has been achieved through the high expectations and professionalism of our staff and, with support from parents and governors."

Grayrigg CE Primary School almost matched that with an increase from 50 to 80 per cent but head teacher Kirsty Cooper said just as important as the results was the fact that the school inspired every pupil to love learning and do their very best.

"I was pleased with the results but what matters to me far more is inspiring a love of learning to take them through their life way beyond SATs," she said.

"It is reassuring to know that results like this can be achieved within our ethos, where the sole focus of our teaching will never be about SATs prep but always about inspiring every child to reach further than they ever thought they could, regardless of their strengths are challenges."

At Grange CE Primary, head teacher Phillipa Summers praised staff and parents for their contribution in achieving an improvement from 60 to 79 per cent, but reserved special praise for the pupils themselves.

"The children have worked very hard and put a lot of effort in, and I was especially pleased to note so many of them were actually looking forward to the SATs tests and seeing their hard work pay off," she said.