The headteacher of a Uttoxeter middle school has spoken of her pride after her pupils "smashed" their SATs tests, eclipsing the national average pass rates.

Lisa Wilbraham-Jones was beaming with pride after youngsters aged 10 and 11 at Windsor Park Middle School gained some impressive results.

They achieved a 79 per cent pass rate in reading, 89 per cent in writing and 81 per cent in maths.

That is compared to national averages of 75 per cent, 78 per cent and 76 per cent respectively.

Compared to last year, Windsor's scores were slightly higher for writing - but slightly lower in maths and reading - than last year.

And Mrs Wilbraham-Jones has echoed widely-held views that this year's tests were harder than in 2017.

Windsor Park Middle School pupils, in Uttoxeter, celebrating some strong SATS results in 2018's exams.

She said: "The papers were more challenging and the pass mark threshold was higher, so for them to smash it like they did is just amazing.

"You really can't compare the stats to last year's, because the exams were chalk and cheese, but both years had phenomenal results.

"Despite the challenges, the pupils have raised their game and worked really hard throughout the academic year - I'm so proud of them.

"The spellings they were asked to do were really, really hard.

"But I felt the reading paper was fair and accessible, with a good selection of the topics they've covered in lessons, and the maths was challenging but fair.

"Some parents who looked at the paper were astounded by the level pupils have had to reach to pass and said they'd find the tests hard themselves.

"But the toughness of the papers is out of our control, to be honest."

Mrs Wilbraham-Jones said her school's success was not only measured by their pass rate.

How did the schools do in 2017?

Windsor: Eighty-two per cent of Windsor pupils got the “expected” mark in reading, 84 per cent did so in maths and 87 per cent made the grade in writing.

Ryecroft: A total of 83 per cent met the required level in reading, 82 per cent hit their target in writing and 70 per cent attained the expected level in maths – but that represented a 15 per cent improvement on 2016's results.

Oldfields: Seventy per cent hit the expected standard for reading, 73 per cent did so for writing and 75 per cent reached the level in maths.

St Joseph's: Ninety-six per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

She said: "It's important to remember some of the children who perhaps haven't achieved the best marks have made massive improvements and their success is just as impressive.

"The children are all so happy with how they've done.

"We don't talk much about the exams throughout the school year - we just take them in our stride.

"I would like to celebrate the success of our students and thank the whole school community for their hard work and support, not just with SATs, but for all they do during a year which allow us to offer many opportunities for our children to shine."

Windsor Park Middle School, Uttoxeter

SATs - or Standardised Attainment Tests - are taken by pupils at the end of each key stage up to GCSE level.

The Key Stage Two SATs are taken by Year Six pupils in the Uttoxeter area at Windsor, Oldfields Hall Middle School, Ryecroft Middle School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School.

The middle schools are part of the Uttoxeter Learning Trust group of academies and feed into Thomas Alleyne's High School, Uttoxeter.

St Joseph's is part of the Painsley Catholic Academy Trust and feeds into Painsley Catholic Academy, in Cheadle.

To date, Windsor is the only one of the four schools to provide the Uttoxeter Advertiser with its results, but the rest will be released by the Department for Education later this year.