"Pleased but not complacent" was the message from the headteacher at Wandle Primary, after it went from the worst performing school to achieving the most improved results in the country since last year.

Performance tables published by the Department for Education and Skills this week show the Earlsfield school achieving a test score of 240 - an aggregate of results in English, maths and science - compared to last year's figure of just 41.

Headteacher Paul Larkey, who joined the school in September 2000 said: "On behalf of the children and parents I'm very pleased, of course, but we are not complacent. We still have a lot of work to do."

The school's amazing improvement has been put down to the installation of assistants in most classes and a special "learning mentor", paid for by a government Excellence in Cities grant, as well as extra booster classes and improvements to the building.

Mr Larkey added: "The single most important thing is the recognition of people who work in the school who were committed to make some changes and be focused on the job in hand."

December 5, 2001 16:00