Schools in south east London are ahead of the national average for the proportion of 7-year-olds meeting the expected standards at the end of Key Stage 1.

Pupils are assessed in four subject areas - reading, writing, maths and science - by their teachers at the end of year two in school.

Figures released by the Department for Education show that schools in Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich all had children perform higher than the average for the rest of the country.

From the almost 15,000 primary schools in the south west boroughs, the results went up in Bexley, Bromley and Lewisham, although they had dropped in Greenwich.

Girls performed more strongly than boys. For Bexley, the gap was widest in writing where girls were 14 percentage points ahead.

Lewisham had 80% of pupils at the expected standard in reading compared to 76% across England and 73% in writing compared to 68%. In maths 78% of pupils achieved the standard compared to 75% for England, and 87% in science. The national average for science was 85%.

The Key Stage 1 assessments were introduced in 2016 to examine how children were coping with the more challenging national curriculum set by the government and the increase in the standards expected.