A WEST Devon primary school is among the top 200 in the country for its achievements in one level of SATs tests.

Pupils at St Andrew's School, Buckland Monachorum, won the accolade for the number of pupils gaining the higher level 5 in the tests. This is the level above the standard for their age group and is usually expected of children three years older.

It was one of the county's success stories shown in figures released last week, showing that in the 2008 SATs tests in English, mathematics and science for 11-year-olds, the county continued to improve its performance.

Devon's aggregate score in the three tests has risen for the past four years.

It went up from 244 in 2005 to 247 in 2006. In 2007 the aggregate score was 249 and in these latest figures for 2008 the aggregate rose to 250.

Across the region, Devon schools are achieving more highly than their neighbours in Somerset, Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay and beating the English aggregate of 248.

The percentage of pupils achieving the benchmark level 4 or above in English rose from 81% in 2007 to 82% in 2008 — one point above the national average.

 And 79% achieved level 4 in mathematics, the same figure as nationally, while 89% reached level 4 in science compared with 88% nationally.

The improvement comes despite Devon sinking to 146th out of 149 local authorities for the amount of money received from the Government to educate the county's children.

Devon's executive councillor for children and young people, John Smith, said: 'I would like to congratulate all of the primary schools whose good work has been highlighted in the various tables published today by the DCFS.

'The best results are always achieved through a partnership between heads, teachers, school support staff and children, with the active support of their families and our own education staff. I would like to pay tribute to their hard work today.

'I am delighted that pupils in Devon's schools are achieving ahead of the national average but none of us must be complacent.

'Meanwhile we are actively campaigning for Fair Funding for Devon's schools because we are one of the worst funded education authorities in the country yet our pupils and teachers still manage to out-perform many other authorities.

'We are placed joint 60th out of 149 local authorities and yet we are placed 146th out of 149 councils for our funding.'

The tables, issued by the DCSF, highlight a number of Devon schools in various categories.

Five schools scored a perfect aggregate 300 for the three subject tests, including St Andrew's.

A number of schools are highlighted for their outstanding Contextual Value Added or CVA score. This measures the progress made by pupils from the age of seven to 11 using their test results.

The baseline CVA score is 100 and Bere Alston Primary's score was significantly above this at 101.7.