The early figures are in for Key Stage 2 results and Merton's school ranks closer to the bottom than they do the top.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published its provisional results for 2019 which said that just 68 per cent of primary school students in Merton are reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Although this is not far off the London average (69 per cent), it does place the borough in a tie for 22nd out of 32 local authorities in the capital.

Cabinet member for schools and adult education, Councillor Eleanor Stringer, said there were positives to take away from the results.

"All Merton’s primaries are judged as good or excellent by Ofsted which is why so many families choose to live in the borough," she said.

"The council is dedicated to ensuring all Merton children achieve their potential, so we are delighted the provisional KS2 figures for reading and maths show that disadvantaged pupils at our schools performed better than all pupils nationally.

"The figures show that the gap in progress made between disadvantaged pupils and their peers in reading has narrowed for the third year in a row."

Across London there is a clear difference between results for boys and girls and Merton is no different.

For the three key categories, just 63 per cent of boys in the borough are meeting the expected target, compared to 73 per cent for girls, both of which are slightly below the London average.

Cllr Stringer added: "We are also pleased to see the provisional KS2 statistics show the reading achievement of Merton’s pupils is well above the London average.

"Merton’s performance in the combined reading, writing and maths category is above the provisional national average of 65 per cent but just below the London average of 69 per cent.

"However the figures also show our pupils make very good progress from the KS1 stage, for which achievement in reading ranked Merton 9th in the country.

"In addition pupil’s performance in the grammar, punctuation and spelling test was particularly strong, with 84 per cent of pupils achieving the expected standard. This is well above the national average of 78% and ranks Merton 4th in London.

"The council continues to work closely with all the hard-working dedicated staff at our primary schools to maximise the achievements of all our pupils.”