Key stage results for seven, 11 and 14-year-olds were published on Tuesday.

The number of seven-year-olds achieving the expected reading standard rose by one per cent from last year to 85 per cent.

At age 11 a record 77 per cent achieved the expected level in English, an increase of two per cent from last year and there was also an improvement in maths.

There has also been a rise of two per cent of 14-year-olds getting level five in maths, and a two per cent fall in the number of pupils achieving level five in science compared to last year.

Government Response: Department for Education and Skills

Schools standards minister David Miliband said: "These are good results and show that standards achieved by pupils in our primary schools are improving again.

"We are also pleased at the progress made in maths by 14 year olds. Well done to the pupils and well done to teachers for their hard work and professionalism. 

"Last year I described the primary results as a platform rather than a plateau of achievement.

"This year primary schools have built on the platform and achieved the best ever results in English and maths. Pupils and parents can be confident that their primary schools are still getting better and better.

"Standards in all areas are improving but some of the biggest strides are in some of the poorest areas. It shows that poverty is not a barrier to success.

"It is a tribute to the hard work of teachers who have made this possible. We will continue to offer them targeted help and support."

Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "Congratulations to both pupils and their teachers on their efforts – but congratulations come with a health warning.

"Test results can't be relied upon alone – they're subject to variation and only represent part of a learner's achievement.

"English, maths and science are important as basic skills, but the 21st century needs rounded, versatile individuals. Defining young people by test results alone insults their individuality.

"ATL is committed to easing the testing burden. We know this is achievable. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have already shown there are viable alternatives.

"The government must face facts: testing by itself is no longer driving up standards. The testing engine has run out of steam.

"If the government wants to meet its targets, we urgently need to explore a more intelligent approach to assessment and the curriculum.

"A one-size-fits-all approach is not working.  We can hardly expect today's young people to be inspired by a list of 19th century school subjects."

Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
 
NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said: "Instead of celebrating primary schools' achievement in numeracy and literacy, the target system has meant the government has shot itself in the foot.

"Inevitably those hostile to the success of our primary schools point to the fact that the government's original targets have not been achieved rather than to the continuing improvement in pupil performance.

"The government must learn a long overdue lesson: it has got to take defining national measures of performance out of the political arena.

"There is a strong argument for the establishment of an independent unit which would sample achievement in the basics without being tied to crude national targets.

"The question still has to be asked: why is the government continuing to impose these uninformative and damaging tests on pupils in England?

"Teachers regard these tests as disruptive of children's education taking up an unreasonable amount of time and placing an additional workload on teachers without benefit to pupils, parents or teachers.

"The government should follow the example of Wales and get rid of these educationally unsound tests, performance tables and crude national targets."

Stakeholder Response: Institute of Education

Sue Burroughs-Lange, trainer coordinator of the Reading Recovery National Network at the Institute of Education, said: "Congratulations to the children and their teachers for achieving literacy results that will ultimately pay off in the workplace and society.

"But while they're to be celebrated, we mustn't forget the alarming number of children – 15 per cent of seven-year-olds and 23 per cent at age 11 – who can barely read and write and for whom most remedial teaching doesn't work. The future is bleak for anyone lacking literacy skills in a text-based society, and today's non-readers risk becoming tomorrow's social excludees.

"There is a solution, reading recovery, which catches literacy difficulties before they become intractable through individually designed one-to-one tuition given by specially trained, highly skilled teachers. Evidence from national monitoring shows that four out of five of the lowest attaining children learn to read and write through reading recovery and go on to achieve age-appropriate levels of literacy in national assessments.

"Of course intensive individual tuition is costly, but statistics on exclusions, crime, unemployment and poor health chronicle the costs of ignoring early failure. Every penny spent enabling schools to run this programme can bring real savings in the long-term.

"Educational funding needs to be made available for schools to run the programme."