EDUCATION bosses will be quizzed on the quality of primary education in the district at a council meeting.

Last month, the Standard revealed that just four district primary schools were hitting tough new government targets for reading, writing and maths.

Maldon District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee will have a presentation at a meeting this evening into the standard of primary education.

The aim was to assess how the Maldon district compared to the rest of the county, to assess what could be done to improve education standards, and to use local influence to drive up standards in the Dengie where possible.

Committee officers have met with Claire Kershaw, head of commissioning education and lifelong learning at Essex County Council, and the Rev Tim Elbourne, director of education at Chelmsford Diocese.

Mark Heard, committee chairman, said: “The committee has the power to scrutinise different services of the council to the community, and with this Councillor Henry Bass wanted to see how the standards of primary education were holding up.

“The meeting will be a general inquiry into the district’s primary education rather than specific aspects, and this will allow members to see how it’s getting on and what possible improvements are needed, and how we could go about getting them.”

Cold Norton, Great Totham, St Francis Primary School and Tollesbury Primary schools all hit the target of 65 per cent of pupils achieving the required standards in reading, writing and maths, while Wentworth just missed out.

St Nicholas Primary in Tillingham had one of the worst results in the county with just 10 per cent of pupils achieving the required level.