Results for 11-year-olds in Suffolk are improving, according to the latest SATS results which show the county moving up national league tables.

Suffolk has gone up 22 places in the league table for pupils achieving expected standards in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 – with 77% of pupils reaching the Level 4 target. Last year the score was 74%.

This puts the county ahead of Norfolk (75%) but still behind Essex (81%) and the national average of 80%.

Suffolk County Council education bosses said they were delighted with the news and showed they were succeeding in “pushing up education standards”.

But there is still work to do to improve Suffolk which, like other parts of the region, lags behind the best and brightest authorities in the country. The improving results pushed the county up 22 places but it is still 118th out of 150 local authorities

Lisa Chambers, cabinet member for education and skills, said: “In the past few weeks we have received very encouraging A-level and GCSE results; the Key Stage 2 grades continue that trend and show definitive progress is being made.

“I’d also like to congratulate our students and all the staff that provide support to them. These results are a credit to them all.”

The areas of best performance were in London and the North-East – with the highest performing area being Kensington and Chelsea, with 90%. The worst performing were Poole, Medway, Luton, Bedford and Doncaster with 73%.

The gap in Suffolk between boys’ and girls’ attainment, in reaching the Level 4 standard in the three disciplines, also narrowed – 74% of boys achieved the level, compared to 80% of girls. The gap in 2014 was 8%.

There were improvements across the board for expected progress between Key Stage 1, when a child is seven and Key Stage 2, when a child is 11.

The biggest improvement was in writing which moved from 89% to 91%. Although maths did improve by 1% to 85%, it is still 5% off the national average.

Essex also saw a rise in the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 of 2% – from 79%-81%.

Another headline figure in Essex was the progress in writing between Key Stages 1 and 2.

The percentage of pupils making the expected progress rose from 92% in 2014 to 95% this year. As a result, Essex has jumped from 115th in the national rankings to joint 12th.

Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, said: “I am delighted with these latest Key Stage 2 statistics, which illustrate the fantastic work going on every day at primary schools in Essex.

“Following the county’s excellent GCSE and A-level results, it is very pleasing to see the summer capped off in such a positive way ahead of the new academic year.

“As a council, we will continue to work very closely with schools to ensure pupils in Essex receive the best possible education.”

The results published yesterday are provisional. Validated figures will be released in October.