The gap between the most and least able primary school children is widening, official figures suggest. The Department for Education figures show that there was little improvement in England’s state primaries this year, although more girls achieved the standard level 4 than boys. At the top end, however, the proportion reaching level 5 — that expected of 14-year-olds — rose faster in mathematics and in English.

Nine years after Labour came to power, analysis of the results also shows that four in ten children have still not mastered the expected levels of reading, writing and arithmetic when they leave primary school.

Education secretaries have consistently maintained that level 4 is the minimum standard necessary for children to be able to cope with the rigours of the national curriculum at secondary school.

Overall, national curriculum tests taken last summer showed that the improvement rate among England’s primaries has slowed. While the numbers achieving level 4 in English rose 12 percentage points to 75 per cent between 1997 and 2000. Six years on it has risen to only 79 per cent, with more than a quarter of boys failing to meet that standard.

Figures also show that the proportion of boys able to read properly fell by three percentage points this year to 79 per cent.

In maths, 76 per cent of pupils were able to count properly compared with 75 per cent in 2005. Of those, 76 per cent of boys achieved level 4 or above, ahead of girls by one percentage point.

Both levels are far below the Government’s target of 85 per cent in English and maths. There was a rise of one percentage point in science pupils reaching level 4 — 87 per cent of 11-year-olds.

At level 5, girls continue to outshine boys. In English, results rose by five percentage points to 32 per cent and in maths by two percentage points, to 33 per cent, although in science they fell by one percentage point to 46 per cent.

Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister, said the results showed that Labour had come a “long way since 1997” when a third of 11-year-olds failed to reach the expected standard. But he admitted that more needed to be done for the bottom fifth of pupils, who were being left behind in English and maths.

“We are determined to redouble our efforts to help the one in five 11-year-olds who are still not reaching the standard required of their age in literacy and mathematics,” he said.

“That is why we are renewing our literacy strategy with phonics at the heart of the teaching of reading and more demanding standards of mental arithmetic.”

The Government said that from September all five-year-olds must be taught to read using a traditional “phonics” method.

With 118,000 pupils failing to meet the expected standards in English and 138,600 unable to add up properly, Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, said league table figures showed that the National Literacy Strategy had been a “wasted opportunity”.

“More than a quarter of boys are leaving primary school not having mastered basic proficiency in reading and writing, despite six years of education,” he said.

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