Every primary school in England has been urged in a letter from the government to take "urgent action" as part of a new push to meet national targets in maths and English.

The stalled national strategies aimed at boosting children's achievements in the three Rs are being reinforced in a new effort to spread best practice.

The government says a quarter of schools are still "underperforming".

But head teachers have complained that this is just more "finger wagging" from ministers.

Targets missed

Test results achieved by 11 year olds have failed to improve for three years.

English results

2000: 75% 2001: 75% 2002: 75% Target 2004: 85%

Achievement targets set for 2002 in English and maths were missed - which contributed to the resignation of Estelle Morris as education secretary.

New sets of targets, for 2004 and 2006, are looming.

The letter to head teachers urges them to take "urgent action" to meet these, including identifying children who are falling behind and providing booster classes at Easter and more training for teachers.

Maths results

2000: 72% 2001: 71% 2002: 73% Target 2004: 85%

But head teachers have reacted angrily to the tone of the letter.

David Hart of the National Association of Head Teachers says heads are "absolutely fed up" with being told to do more to meet targets when other aspects of the curriculum are being squeezed out.

He said the letter "smacked of a certain amount of panic" at meeting the next targets.

Making a difference

The education Minister, Stephen Twigg, said the new strategy was a framework for school improvement.

"We don't want to impose, we want to learn from what works in schools.

"If you look at schools, you can take one primary school and another - very similar backgrounds, similar social context but very, very different results.

"What's making the difference? We think giving support through training, giving additional lessons to the young people, seeking to learn lessons between the different types of school, that is what the strategy is about."

The shadow education secretary, Damian Green, said: "This is another sign of desperation by a government that used to claim it had 'sorted' primary education.

"Results have stagnated in recent years and it seems the government is looking around for a quick fix to a problem that really lies at the heart of the top-down approach to policy."

Consultant

The new "national primary strategy" will be led by Kevan Collins, deputy director of the national literacy strategy.

Dr Collins has considerable teaching experience in London, Bradford and in Africa.

He is a consultant on a national literacy initiative in the USA working with the New York Institute of Special Education and Pennsylvannia University in Philadelphia.

The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, has also confirmed Sue Hackman in the post of director of the Key Stage 3 strategy, aimed at raising achievement in the early secondary years.

Mr Clarke said: "I am delighted that we have recruited such talented and committed leaders to play a leading role in our continuing work to transform teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools."

The Department for Education described the 2002 national results for primary schools as "the best ever".

The maths results had gone up by only one percentage point over three years, but the English results had not changed.

Consultation

But the department said there was no room for satisfaction when about one in four children left primary school without the skills they needed.

An Ofsted report last year said the best schools had embedded the national literacy and numeracy strategies into a broad curriculum - rather than slavishly following the prescribed lessons.

"We want all schools to have the capacity and the confidence to follow their example," the department said.

The inspectorate said the government should embark on "a critical review" of its strategy for teaching children in England to read and write.

It said the maths strategy did not need the same kind of overhaul - but was not being taught well enough.

In a new "dialogue" with head teachers, Mr Twigg will be hosting eight conferences next month for heads from about 1,750 schools.