Norfolk has seen a minor improvement in the proportion of children reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by the time they leave primary school.

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According to government data released this morning, 75pc of 11-year-olds achieved at least Level 4 in the three subjects in this summer's Sats exams - a 1 percentage point improvement on last year.

That means the gap between Norfolk and all state-funded schools in England remains 5 percentage points for the third year running.

The news will be a disappointment for school leaders, given that data from Norfolk schools had led to predictions that 78pc of 11-year-olds would reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths this year.

However, there was a slight increase in the proportion of Norfolk pupils making the expected progress in reading, writing and maths, at a time when the England-wide progress measures for reading and maths were unchanged.

James Joyce, chairman of the Children's Services Committee at Norfolk County Council, said: 'Norfolk's schools have come from a low starting base and, while any improvement is welcome, it needs to be accelerated because we expect the county's pupils to close the gap on their peers nationally, so that they are all achieving their potential in the years to come.

'We remain ambitious for Norfolk's children and will continue to focus on relentlessly challenging and supporting schools to improve, beginning in the first week of the new term and continuing with the same impetus throughout the new academic year.

'This means working with schools and academies that have not achieved the improvements predicted so that they we can support them to focus on the right priorities for their pupils.'

There was better news for Suffolk, which saw the proportion of children reaching the expected level increase by 3 percentage points, to 77pc.

Last year, 74pc of pupils in Norfolk achieved the expected standard, a rise from 71pc in 2013, and 69pc in 2012.

In 2014, Suffolk also saw 74pc of pupils gain at least Level 4 in reading, writing and maths - with a similar progression to Norfolk over the previous two years, having recorded 70pc in 2013 and 68pc in 2012.

Last year Cambridgeshire was closer to the national average, with 76pc of children reaching the expected standard in their end-of-primary-school exams. This year, this figure rose to 78pc.