A PRIMARY school has been named as the second best in London after topping the league tables for Harrow.

Staff and children at Newton Farm Primary in Ravenswood Crescent were celebrating this week after hearing that all of last year's Key Stage Two pupils had reached the government's benchmark Level 4 in English, maths and science, which resulted in the school achieving the maximum aggregate score of 300.

Proud teachers have attributed their success to the dual emphasis they place on education as well as turning their pupils into 'good citizens'.

Headteacher Rehka Bhakoo said: "I think that our success is due to staff encouraging children to explore their talents. We work as a team.

"While it is a bonus for us to have our educational standards singled out we are also teaching the children to be good citizens."

The school top of the Harrow League and second among all of London's boroughs teaches 290 children in both the First and Middle schools.

Elsewhere in the tables, the greatest improvement in the National Curriculum tests for the core subjects was made by Whitefriars Primary in Whitefriars Avenue, Harrow, which increased its aggregate total by 34 to 182, third from the bottom this year.

However, Cedars Primary in Whittlesea Road slipped to joint bottom with Glebe Primary School in D'arcy Gardens, with the worst decrease in its aggregate score from 213 last year to 164 this year.

Eighteen of the 36 primary schools in Harrow saw their aggregate totals fall from the previous year but a higher percentage of pupils appear to find science easier than both English and maths.

By.Rachel Clarke