Muslim and Jewish primary schools are the top performing groups in England in tests for seven-year-olds, according to figures released by the Department for Education.

Their scores were above the average for English, maths and science in Sats at the end of key stage one.

While individual school results in this age group are not published, the government has issued general data.

Nationally, the percentages of children in English schools reaching the expected standard were 76 per cent for reading; 68 per cent, writing; 75 per cent, maths; and 83 per cent in science.

The 11 Muslim schools were the highest achieving with 85 per cent for reading; 82 per cent, writing; 86 per cent, maths; and 88 per cent, science.

For the 35 Jewish schools, the results were 83 per cent, reading; 77 per cent, writing; 82 per cent, maths; and 88 per cent, science.

When it comes to achieving a higher level than the expected standards, the percentages were 25 per cent nationally for reading, 29 per cent in Muslim schools and 35 per cent in Jewish: 16 per cent nationally for writing, 25 per cent in Muslim, and 22 per cent in Jewish schools; and for maths, 21 per cent nationally, 31 per cent in Muslim and 28 per cent in Jewish schools.