Sandwell education authority in the West Midlands has dropped 12 places in the space of a year to achieve the worst performance of any area in the primary school league tables.

On average, the 11-year-old pupils who took their national curriculum tests in Sandwell's schools in May did less well than anywhere else in England.

At the other end of the table, Richmond-upon-Thames in Surrey topped the table of the 150 local authorities once again.

The tiny City of London and Isles of Scilly education authorities achieved higher scores, as usual - but each has only one primary school.

Spending plan

Sandwell - with many socially deprived areas - had been named one of the most improved boroughs in 2001.

Its aggregate "score" in the tables was 205.1, compared with 212.9 last year.

It said its bottom place was "disappointing" and it planned to spend �2m on an "improvement plan" for its primary schools.

Sandwell's cabinet member for education, Ian Jones, said: "We are confident that this year's results are not setting a new downward trend but are a wake-up call for us to redouble our efforts."

He added: "There is no doubt that problems linked to unemployment, low income and poor health, housing and environment combine to put children and their families living in poor neighbourhoods at a disadvantage when compared to those in more affluent areas."

Other movers

In the relatively well-off London suburb of Richmond, pupils managed an aggregate score of 260.8, up a whisker on last year's 259.5.

Its cabinet member for schools, Geoffrey Samuel, said: "The results are a positive reward for pupils in our borough schools, their parents, teachers and all those involved in education in Richmond upon Thames."

In between these extremes, LEAs which have raised their performance significantly this year include Bradford - last year's worst - Blackburn with Darwen, Islington - with its privatised education service - Greenwich and Medway.

Those in decline include Blackpool - which had gone up 15 points last year on the back of a scheme in which vouchers for burgers were used as an incentive to reward pupils' attendance and academic achievement.

It was this year's biggest faller, down more than 12 points.

Camden and Wokingham also dropped points markedly - Camden plummeting down the table, and Wokingham - second of the mainland authorities last year, falling to 16th place.

Kensington and Chelsea took Wokingham's place behind Richmond.

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The table below shows the relative performance of England's local education authorities in their schools' Key Stage 2 national curriculum test results.

The columns show the average point score (APS), the aggregate score of the tests in English, maths and science (AGG), the change in this from last year (+/-), and the rate of unauthorised absence.

Click on the name of any individual authority for a full list of its schools' results in our main league tables.

LEA	APS	AGG	+/-	absent
City of London	30.3	281.5	24.4	0.3%
Isles of Scilly	28.3	270.6	12.7	NA
Richmond-upon-Thames	29.0	260.8	1.3	0.2%
Kensington and Chelsea	28.4	254.4	-1.0	0.9%
Rutland	28.8	254.1	4.8	0.2%
Warrington	28.1	251.5	2.6	0.3%
Harrow	28.2	250.9	7.8	0.3%
Barnet	28.2	250.8	-0.9	0.7%
Trafford	28.4	250.7	7.2	0.2%
Surrey	28.2	250.7	0.1	0.4%
Solihull	28.2	250.6	1.8	0.2%
Windsor and Maidenhead	28.2	250.6	6.6	0.4%
Cheshire	28.1	249.2	1.6	0.3%
Bracknell Forest	28.0	248.7	2.1	0.2%
Bury	28.0	248.6	1.4	0.4%
Sutton	28.2	248.5	5.2	0.5%
Havering	27.9	248.4	4.1	0.2%
Wokingham	28.2	247.9	-8.4	0.2%
Hertfordshire	28.0	247.4	1.3	0.4%
Kingston-upon-Thames	28.3	247.1	0.3	0.3%
Hillingdon	27.9	246.3	-1.3	0.7%
Sefton	27.8	245.6	-0.3	0.3%
Bath and NE Somerset	27.9	245.1	4.6	0.4%
North Yorkshire	27.9	244.8	-3.0	0.2%
Stockport	27.9	244.8	-0.6	0.4%
Bromley	28.0	244.7	-2.1	0.5%
Shropshire	27.9	244.5	1.9	0.1%
Gloucestershire	28.0	244.2	0.7	0.3%
Westminster	27.8	243.4	-1.8	0.8%
North Somerset	27.7	242.8	-1.9	0.2%
East Riding of Yorkshire	27.7	242.7	2.6	0.2%
Leicestershire	27.7	242.3	1.9	0.2%
Buckinghamshire	28.1	242.2	-5.5	0.3%
Hampshire	27.8	242.1	-0.2	0.3%
St Helens	27.7	242.1	0.4	0.4%
Redbridge	27.8	242.0	3.5	0.8%
South Gloucestershire	27.7	242.0	0.2	0.3%
West Berkshire	27.8	241.5	-2.9	0.4%
Wigan	27.6	241.5	2.1	0.3%
Torbay	27.6	241.2	5.7	0.4%
Cumbria	27.6	241.1	0.0	0.2%
Calderdale	27.6	240.4	5.8	0.3%
Halton	27.4	239.9	7.7	0.6%
York City	27.8	239.6	-2.0	0.5%
Dorset	27.7	239.2	2.7	0.3%
Cambridgeshire	27.6	239.2	4.3	0.3%
Hammersmith and Fulham	27.7	239.1	-4.5	0.6%
Gateshead	27.6	238.6	-0.7	0.4%
Wirral	27.6	238.4	-0.5	0.4%
Staffordshire	27.5	238.3	3.7	0.3%
Warwickshire	27.6	238.1	1.2	0.2%
West Sussex	27.6	238.0	2.3	0.3%
Herefordshire	27.6	237.9	-5.6	0.2%
Lancashire	27.5	237.8	2.1	0.4%
Essex	27.5	237.4	4.2	0.4%
Derbyshire	27.6	237.3	4.9	0.4%
Nottinghamshire	27.6	237.0	5.8	0.4%
Durham	27.5	237.0	-0.3	0.2%
Stockton-on-Tees	27.5	237.0	4.8	0.2%
Lincolnshire	27.6	236.8	1.1	0.4%
Ealing	27.6	236.7	-1.2	0.2%
North Tyneside	27.5	236.4	-3.0	0.1%
Brent	27.3	236.3	-1.1	0.5%
Leeds	27.4	236.0	1.8	0.5%
Oxfordshire	27.5	235.7	2.3	0.4%
Darlington	27.5	235.0	-7.0	0.4%
Northamptonshire	27.4	234.8	0.9	0.5%
Enfield	27.4	234.7	0.4	1.1%
Bolton	27.3	234.4	-3.6	0.4%
North Lincolnshire	27.4	234.3	-0.5	0.3%
Isle of Wight	27.2	234.2	4.8	0.3%
Somerset	27.3	234.1	3.3	0.3%
national averages	27.4	234	1.0	0.5%
Southend	27.6	233.6	1.6	0.7%
Devon	27.4	233.6	-1.3	0.2%
Tameside	27.3	233.5	4.9	0.2%
South Tyneside	27.3	232.9	-0.2	0.1%
Bournemouth	27.4	232.6	-0.6	0.2%
Wiltshire	27.3	232.4	2.8	0.3%
Worcestershire	27.3	232.1	7.8	0.2%
Wakefield	27.3	231.9	1.2	0.5%
East Sussex	27.2	231.8	3.7	0.4%
North East Lincolnshire	27.2	231.7	8.3	0.3%
Cornwall	27.3	231.6	-1.2	0.3%
Slough	27.2	231.5	-1.0	0.6%
Croydon	27.3	231.3	-0.9	0.6%
Bexley	27.3	231.1	-4.4	0.4%
Bedfordshire	27.2	230.4	-0.7	0.2%
Barking and Dagenham	27.1	230.3	-2.0	1.5%
Swindon	27.1	229.5	5.1	0.2%
Peterborough City	27.3	229.4	2.4	0.5%
Wandsworth	27.1	229.4	2.5	0.6%
Knowsley	26.9	229.3	0.2	0.8%
Camden	27.2	229.1	-9.1	1.1%
Hounslow	27.3	228.9	-2.8	0.9%
Brighton and Hove	27.2	228.9	6.0	0.6%
Northumberland	27.3	228.8	-4.7	0.2%
Hartlepool	27.2	228.7	-2.0	0.8%
Sunderland	27.1	228.7	-0.2	0.2%
Suffolk	27.2	228.3	-2.8	0.3%
Redcar and Cleveland	27.2	228.1	-7.7	0.2%
Oldham	27.0	228.0	0.5	0.4%
Coventry	26.9	227.8	7.5	0.3%
Rochdale	27.0	227.3	-0.3	0.6%
Kent	27.2	227.1	0.6	0.4%
Kirklees	27.0	227.1	-1.2	0.5%
Plymouth, City of	27.0	227.1	-2.3	0.4%
Dudley	27.1	227.0	2.5	0.3%
Merton	27.3	226.7	-1.7	0.4%
Salford	27.0	226.6	-1.7	0.5%
Blackburn with Darwen	26.7	226.2	10.5	0.5%
Stoke-on-Trent	26.9	226.0	2.5	0.8%
Norfolk	27.0	225.1	-3.2	0.4%
Poole	27.2	224.7	1.2	0.5%
Doncaster	27.0	224.2	-0.7	0.5%
Medway	26.9	224.2	9.5	0.4%
Birmingham	26.9	223.7	1.0	0.7%
Portsmouth	27.0	223.6	3.8	0.8%
Telford and Wrekin	27.0	223.6	2.3	0.3%
Rotherham	27.0	223.5	-4.4	0.6%
Southampton	27.0	223.2	7.4	0.8%
Middlesbrough	27.0	223.1	-3.4	0.3%
Derby City	27.0	222.8	-1.7	0.8%
Tower Hamlets	26.6	222.4	-3.4	1.4%
Liverpool	26.9	221.8	3.4	0.6%
Luton	26.7	221.5	3.4	0.6%
Milton Keynes	26.8	220.7	7.7	0.3%
Sheffield	26.8	220.4	6.3	0.7%
Lewisham	26.8	219.8	-4.0	1.4%
Blackpool	26.7	219.8	-12.4	0.9%
Islington	26.7	219.1	10.3	1.2%
Kingston upon Hull City	26.5	219.0	-3.7	0.7%
Wolverhampton	26.5	218.3	3.7	0.5%
Reading	26.9	218.2	-3.5	0.6%
Thurrock	26.5	217.4	3.4	0.5%
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	26.8	216.8	7.1	0.7%
Walsall	26.5	216.3	4.5	0.5%
Greenwich	26.6	216.2	9.9	1.4%
Lambeth	26.7	215.9	-2.6	1.2%
Newham	26.4	215.8	0.3	1.6%
Manchester	26.5	213.4	-0.8	0.9%
Leicester City	26.3	213.2	6.7	0.6%
Bradford	26.4	213.0	11.4	0.8%
Bristol City	26.7	212.5	4.1	1.0%
Haringey	26.5	212.0	-1.7	1.7%
Waltham Forest	26.4	211.7	-0.4	0.4%
Hackney	26.1	208.8	5.0	1.5%
Barnsley	26.4	208.4	-2.7	0.8%
Nottingham City	26.1	206.4	3.2	0.8%
Southwark	26.0	205.8	-3.2	1.8%
Sandwell	26.1	205.1	-7.8	0.5%