High-achieving primary schools setting their young pupils up with the skills they need to succeed can be found dotted across Yorkshire.
The government’s latest preliminary performance figures for state-funded primary schools were released today (12 December), a week after it published delayed performance figures for secondary schools. From this new data, we’ve created a league table ranking state primary schools across all of Yorkshire’s council areas.
It is based on the percentage of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the most recently ended school year, 2023-24, who met the government’s expected standards in three essential school skills: reading, writing and maths. All schools included on the list had at least 90% of their pupils hit this target. This gave many smaller village and community schools the chance to shine, while also allowing larger primary schools in and around cities like York and Leeds - typically with many more pupils to get across the goalposts - to prove they too can excel.
Each school included also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was recently dropped, or, if they’ve been inspected more recently, had at least ‘good’ grades across the board. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management and student safeguarding were all found to meet or exceed government standards last time the school was inspected.
Here were 22 schools from across Yorkshire that stood out from the pack:
1. Eppleby Forcett Church of England Primary School
This is an Anglican primary and nursery school in the village of Eppleby, near Richmond in North Yorkshire. It is a smaller community school with about 40 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 100% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
2. Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School
Sacred Heart is a Catholic primary school in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and is again on the smaller side - with about 99 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 100% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
3. Skidby Church of England Primary School
This is an Anglican primary school in Skidby, near Cottingham in East Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 71 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 100% of its pupils once again met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 59% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
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4. Carlton Junior and Infant School
This is a primary school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. It has about 218 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 97% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 59% locally and 61% nationally. | National World
5. Crookesbroom Primary Academy
Crookesbroom is a primary school in Hatfield, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 227 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 96% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 60% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
6. Middleton Tyas Church of England Primary School
This is an Anglican primary school in the village of Middleton Tyas, North Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 110 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 95% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google