AN ILMINSTER county councillor has called on families to step away from computer screens and focus more on education.

Cllr Linda Piggott-Vijeh made the comments after highlighting national areas for educational improvement in her Ilminster division county councillor report for October.

The report said: “Children with special education needs (SEND), those receiving free school meals and children looked after are all still performing below standard, with no change in the attainment gap in the last year.

"By contrast 95 per cent of Somerset schools are now rated good or better by Ofsted, a significant improvement and overall in line with national average in every area.

"Middle Schools, which do not perform well at Key Stage 2 level, remain an area of concern. The key focus this year is on improving primary results.

"Whilst there has been some improvement, literacy and writing remain weak, and speaking and lack of social skills remains a real issue at Key Stage 1, with children finding it difficult to settle in – e.g. sit still, share, need constant stimulus and are also not toilet trained.

"At secondary level all 29 schools are performing at average or above in terms of expected progress levels at age 16."

Cllr Piggot-Vijeh said: “My personal view is that the message we need to get across is that education is everyone's responsibility.

"It is easy to blame local authorities and funding cuts, which do certainly have an impact, but all of us can help in many ways.

"For example, Rotary support reading at Greenfylde School and the Minster runs an after school homework club which is always looking for volunteers. Aside from money all it really takes is the right attitude towards learning.

"As beneficial as technology is, I do believe that it can have a negative impact on learning.

"It cannot be good for an entire family to be together with everyone isolated in their own digital and social media activities.

"I know that there have been several initiatives recently for tech free days, which I wholeheartedly approve of."

Mark Walker, headteacher at Swanmead Community School and the national chairman of middle schools, said: “It would be worth reminding the public the first five years of education and indeed half of that key stage actually occur in other schools.

“In terms of the role Middle Schools have in contributing to KS2 standards, we are, in essence, the final leg of the relay. Percentage wise, there are more Middle Schools judged good or better by Ofsted than any other school institution in the country.

“The county should be incredibly proud that all eight of the middle schools in Somerset offer such a wide and balanced curriculum and that all are deemed either good or outstanding.”

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: “We wholeheartedly agree that everyone has a role in improving education in Somerset.

“Currently, 95 per cent of schools in Somerset are good or better in their Ofsted rating. This is a great achievement and is a tribute to the staff, governors and children within our schools.”

“Children with special educational needs, children looked after and children in receipt of free school meals are still not achieving as well as their peers.

“There are clear priorities within our education vision Achieving Excellence for All, that aim to enable these children to achieve as well as their peers.”