Fenland has the worst primary school results in the country, a report has revealed.

According to figures from the Department for Education (DfE), only 66.2 per cent of children achieved the expected level in reading, writing and maths by the time they left primary school in 2013-14.

Waveney, at 67.3 per cent, and Breckland, at 67.4 per cent, came second and third from bottom, out of 324 districts.

Rushcliffe, in Nottinghamshire, is the best performing district with 89.6 per cent success.

The report also revealed less than half of pupils (48.6 per cent) achieve 5 A*-C including English and Maths in their GCSE’s, putting Fenland 294th out of 326 districts.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council spokesman said: “Improving educational outcomes in Fenland is the absolute priority for schools, the county council’s education team and key partners such as the Diocesan Authority, which has responsibilities for church schools, and the multi academy trusts that are now operating in the district.

“The challenges are well known - for example, some areas of Wisbech are within the top 10 per cent of the most deprived areas of the country.

“A whole range of actions are underway, including reading initiatives, schools working together to recruit high quality teachers and organise staff professional development; and local authority training programmes.

“Fenland also has its first Teaching School Alliance, based on Lionel Walden School in Doddington, a status that has been awarded to only 500 schools in the country.

“Recent Ofsted reports - such as that for Elm Primary School, which has progressed from satisfactory to good - show that the efforts schools are making are working and we expect to see this reflected in this year’s results.”