Four Craven primary schools are celebrating after all of their year six pupils reached the benchmark level four in their standard assessment tests (SATS).

Burnsall, Clapham, Lothersdale and Salterforth achieved 100 per cent in all three tests – reading, writing and maths.

And, there was further local success, with one youngster at Horton-in-Ribblesdale School gaining top marks and ending in the top one per cent of pupils across the country.

The tests are taken by those about to move up to secondary school and this year’s results – which were published on Thursday – are the first to include North Craven primary schools following the closure of Settle and Ingleton Middle Schools last year.

Gill Woods, confederation head of Clapham, Austwick and Horton-in-Ribblesdale, said: “I am so proud that all the children in the confederation have excelled in their SATS, particularly as this was the first year that the schools have had a year six.

“All the children have done very well, with one pupil, at Horton, finishing in the top one per cent in the country.”

Lothersdale School had the second best results in North Yorkshire, with a 100 per cent success rate at level four and the majority of pupils going on to reach level five.

Seventy one per cent achieved the higher level in reading, 79 per cent in maths, 64 per cent in writing and 93 per cent in the new grammar, punctuation and spelling test.

Headteacher Jo Robinson said: “Lothersdale School is extremely proud that the dedication and hard work of our staff and governors, the commitment and support from our parents and the passion for learning shown by our pupils have been recognised by our achievements in the 2013 primary school performance tables.

“We will continue to strive for excellence and build on this in the future to ensure that all our pupils reach their full potential.”

Another high-achieving school was Burnsall.

Its headteacher Helen Jameson said: “The staff and governors at Burnsall are delighted with the SATS results and feel that they reflect the hard work and dedication of the small team we have here at Burnsall who strive to deliver the best for our pupils.

“It is always tricky in a small school with small cohorts to reflect what achievement is really taking place as one pupil can present such a big percentage. However, Burnsall is a very special little school where our pupils are treated as individuals and thrive in a supportive and caring learning environment and these results reflect this.”

Salterforth headteacher Helena Dunsdon was also delighted with the SATS results.

“I think it is down to excellent teaching, which is focused on what children need to improve. We have a robust system in place to check progress and all the children have done very well, particularly as we have a number of pupils with special needs,” she added. “The progress made between key stage one and key stage two has been fantastic.”