Four out of ten pupils fall short on the Three Rs despite investment in numeracy

National test results revealed yesterday that growing numbers of 14-year-olds are failing to meet required standards despite ministers spending billions on literacy and numeracy initiatives.

On the plus side, reading has improved, particularly among boys.

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Overall, however, 40 per cent of pupils - almost a quarter of a million - will start their GCSE studies next month without the mastery of the three Rs required to cope with their courses.

Despite standards still falling short of targets set for 2004, Labour insisted the overall trend was upwards.

The Tories, however, described the figures as "deeply worrying" and accused ministers of complacency.

The results published yesterday are from Key Stage Three tests taken by 600,000 14-year-olds in the spring.

They show a marked drop in the number of teenagers reaching the expected "level five" grade in writing - down three points on last year to 73 per cent.

This means that nearly 200,000 struggle to organise their writing into paragraphs, use commas and apostrophes properly, write in a formal style and spell words with more than two syllables.

The slide in writing standards was offset by an improvement in reading, with boys' performance up six points on last year.

This improvement contributed to the proportion of pupils making the grade in English rising one point to 74 per cent.

However, the corresponding figure for maths dropped a point to 76 per cent.

Overall, only 60 per cent of 14-year-olds gained level five in the three Rs, up from 59 per cent last year.

This is because while pupils often score highly in one or two disciplines, they find it more difficult to gain high marks across all three.

Ministers had wanted 85 per cent of 14-year-olds to reach level five in English and maths by 2007, and 80 per cent in science.

Meanwhile, performance of bright pupils dipped sharply, leading to claims that comprehensives are failing to stretch high-fliers.

The proportion of 14-year-olds attaining a higher level six standard in writing fell four points to 33 per cent - its lowest for five years.

Schools minister Jim Knight said: "While I'm disappointed to see a drop in maths and writing, it's important to put this into context.

"The overall trend remains upwards and there have been dips in the past that have been quickly reversed.

"I'm particularly pleased to see a six percentage point improvement in reading for boys.

"Confident literacy skills can help boys succeed in all subjects."

The results bring into question flagship Government literacy and numeracy schemes which continue to swallow up millions of pounds of public money.

Tory schools spokesman Nick Gibb said that despite the small improvement in English, results are still at the level of two years ago.

"It is clear there is a serious problem," he added.

"The results confirm Ofsted's view that half of secondary schools are performing at a level that is 'not good enough'.

"The Government's response to these results is therefore complacent. Frankly, the Government is too easy on itself."