A SOUTHEND school has been recognised as being in the top three per cent of schools in England for student progress.

Porters Grange Primary School and Nursery, Lancaster Gardens, Southend, has been congratulated by Education Secretary Damien Hinds.

Executive headteacher Cheryl Woolf, received a letter from the Department For Education, congratulating staff and pupils on the progress the students made in their reading, writing and mathematics following the key stage two assessments.

The letter explained the school’s results showed progress far above what had been expected of the pupils.

Effectively the progress of Porters’ pupils made between key stage one and the end of key stage two put the school among the top across the whole of England.

Mr Hinds said: “We want to equip every child with the fluency in reading, writing and mathematics necessary to prepare them for a successful secondary education and beyond, and your school has provided this.

“Thank you for producing such high standards through your hard work and professionalism, and congratulations again to you and your staff for all you have achieved.”

Mrs Woolf added: “I cannot emphasise enough the hard work by the whole team at Porters to encourage, motivate and inspire the children, so they have a developing love of learning, which has led to this amazing progress.

“We are very proud of our children and I am so very grateful to the staff team for their commitment to our vision.

“To be in the top three per cent of schools in the country is a magnificent achievement.”

This fantastic news follows the school receiving a good Ofsted rating, after their inspection in November last year.

The school was praised for its inclusive learning environment and excellent pupil personal development support.

The leadership, teaching, development, outcome and early years provision at the school were all classified as good by inspectors following the latest visit to the campus.