Half the candidates who sat for the Primary Benchmark 2016 scored 73 marks or more in Maltese and in English and 78 marks or more in mathematics, the Education Ministry said today.

The Primary Benchmark 2016 recapitulation was held in the last week of May and the first week of June.

A total of 62 state schools, 22 church schools and seven independent schools took part.

The assessment was taken by 3,627 students - 1,682 (46%) boys, and 1,945 (54%) girls.

This represented 93 per cent of the whole cohort of children in Year 6.

In Maltese and English, candidates were assessed in speaking, listening and reading comprehension, and writing. Mathematics had two components: mental and written.

The results were sent to schools this week and to all the candidates today.

They included the marks each candidate scored in the different components of the three subjects as well as the national medians for each component and for each subject.

This was done to enable parents compare their child’s performance in each subject with the national median.