Medway has the lowest number of pupils in the South East in good or outstanding primary schools, figures revealed this week.

Ofsted published its annual report on the performance of schools and in the Towns, almost half of primary pupils are in inadequate or requiring improvement schools.

Kent came out vastly better, with less than 20% at the poor performing schools.

However, in secondary school leagues, the Towns did much better.

Medway came third behind Wokingham and Surrey, and had 89% of pupils in top schools. Kent had 84%. Cliffe Woods Primary School, The Pilgrim School, The Rowans Pupil Referral Unit and Bligh Infant School are all outstanding.

According to the schools watchdog serious under-performance by pupils eligible for free school meals continues to be a concern and is a common reason for schools to be judged less than good in many local authorities.

Ofsted identified five local authorities of particular concern; including Medway, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, East Sussex and Reading. In March Medway was subject to a local authority school improvement inspection due to concerns about how effective their arrangements for school improvements were.

The inspection found that the local authority supported primary schools well but that its work with secondary schools did not have the confidence of school leaders.

In August Medway also recorded the country’s worst set of Key Stage 2 results. Just 73% of pupils got their level 4, compared to 80% in Kent and nationally. The council said they would step up their efforts to improve school performances.

Cllr Mike O’Brien, head of children’s services, said he was writing to schools which most needed to improve and were working in partnership with academies to bring about improvements.

One of initiatives is the Get Medway Learning scheme, in conjunction with national children’s literacy charity Beanstalk.

Nearly 70 people from the Towns have pledged to give up a small amount of time each week to read with young people on a one-to-one basis at school. By Christmas, Beanstalk is aiming to have at least 95 volunteers on board.

For more information, visit www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk or call 01622 662026.