A SMALL village primary school near Darlington has come top out of all North Yorkshire's schools for pupil progress in recently-published league tables. Croft Church of England Primary School, in Croft-on-Tees, which is just three miles from Darlington but falls into the North Yorkshire County Council area, scored particularly well on progress in reading, which was well above average.

It was also ranked in the top ten of all of Yorkshire, and within the top 130 of schools nationally, despite being a small school with just over 100 pupils on roll.

The scoring is based on progress between key stage one and key stage two, so between the ages of seven and 11.

Head teacher Simon Robson said: "We did really, really well in reading this year.

"As a school we do seem to do well with reading. We had only 14 children taking SATs this year and we have had a challenging year with various things so we are so pleased to come through that and do so well.

"Staff, governors and I are extremely pleased to finish at the top of the league table in North Yorkshire.

"It is a wonderful achievement for the school, however league tables are only a small part of everything we do and value as an excellent education here at Croft School.

"We feel that our pupils receive a rich and varied curriculum where they connect with their local community and learn and grow together.

"We have now been part of the Dales Academies Trust for almost one year and have recently revisited our mission statement putting 'happiness' at the centre of it.

"It is a wonderful and happy place to learn."

The school was shown to have average progress in both writing and maths but the scores themselves were good. Mr Robson said the aim was now to increase pupils' progress in writing.

But he praised the supportive parents and teachers as well as the pupils for their efforts.