The reading, writing and maths levels of Croydon children has dropped since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic which saw schools shut down for months.

Just 60 per cent of children aged seven to 11 achieved the expected standard in the three topics, a Croydon Council report shows.

This 2021/22 level was a seven per cent drop on levels recorded in 2018/19, before the pandemic hit.

The report said the level is better than the national average, but worse than other outer London boroughs.

The report said: “The drop of 7 per cent, a result of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, was in line with that of other local authorities and national figures.”

The data also shows in younger children, aged four to seven, 57 per cent pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2021/22.

This was four per cent higher than the national average.

The impacts of the pandemic are also seen in the results of secondary school children.

In 2022, summer exams happened for the first time since 2019.

The report said: “Overall, Croydon is currently under performing against most national and regional [key stage four, years 10 and 11] averages.

"Whilst progress in Croydon is being made over time to reduce the gap, when compared with other London boroughs we are still behind on all measures.”

Provisional results show 48.7 per cent of Croydon pupils got a grade 5 or above.

This is about one per cent below the national average but an eight per cent improvement in Croydon compared to 2019.

Research shows the effects of the pandemic on academic progress was worse for disadvantaged children.

The Department for Education said, for this reason, data from 2022 should not be compared directly to 2019.

It added: “Comparisons should not be made between schools. This is because schools may have been affected differently by Covid-19.”

A report on education standards will be discussed by Croydon Council’s  Scrutiny Children & Young People Sub-Committee on Tuesday (January 17).