One in four children are leaving primary school without a strong grasp of reading and counting.

Thousands of pupils in Sussex are failing to hit the Government’s targets for literacy and numeracy according to statistics published this week.

But in Brighton and Hove the pro- portion of children attaining level four or above jumped from 74% in 2012 to 78% this year, putting the authority in the top fifth in the country.

Results flat-lined elsewhere in the county with 71% of pupils in East Sussex achieving level four and above and West Sussex at 73% – both the same results achieved 12 months earlier.

Girls outperformed boys across the county with 5% more girls achieving level four or above in Brighton and Hove and 8% more girls in West and East Sussex.

This year’s SATs tests for Year 6 pupils (ten and 11-year-olds) saw new tests for writing, punctuation and grammar introduced for the first time.

The new tests proved a bridge too far for a quarter of Brighton pupils, a third of East Sussex pupils and just under a third of West Sussex pupils.

Brighton and Hove City Council Councillor Sue Shanks, chairman of the council’s children and young people committee, said: “Our primary schools are continuing to go from strength to strength.

“Being ranked in the top 20% nationally for reading, writing and maths combined at Level 4+ is a very good performance and I’d like to thank our schools and pupils for their hard work.”

An East Sussex County Council spokeswoman said: “We are aware that outcomes in East Sussex are lower than national averages at Key Stage 2 and, although there have been improvements in writing, reading and mathematics are keys areas of concern.

“Through a team of consultants and advisers the local authority is providing targeted, funded support for schools in order to raise standards at a much faster pace across all key stages.”

A West Sussex County Council spokeswoman said: “Using the new measure of the proportion of pupils attaining Level 4+ in reading, writing and maths West Sussex has maintained the attainment of last year.

The national proportion by the same measure also remained the same.”