Fantastic primary schools can be found dotted right across North Yorkshire, the latest school data performance figures have shown.
The Government’s preliminary performance figures for state-funded primary schools were released last month, shortly after it published delayed performance figures for secondary schools. From this data, we’ve been able to compare how state primary schools across the City of York and North Yorkshire council areas did in the most recent school year, to create a league table of its top performers.
The key figure it’s based on is the proportion of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the 2023/24 academic year, who met the government’s expected standards in three key areas: reading, writing and maths. We’ve included only North Yorkshire’s top performers, those with more than 85% of their pupils meeting this important target.
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.
Many of the rural region’s smaller village and faith schools did particularly well, but larger primaries in centres like York also showed they can excel. Local parents who follow primary school performance data closely will also likely notice some familiar names from last year’s North Yorkshire primary school rankings.
Here are the 21 schools from across North Yorkshire that excelled in the last school year:
5. Knavesmire Primary School
Knavesmire is a larger primary school in York, with a roll size of about 482. It was previously rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 92% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
6. Fairburn Community Primary School
This is a village primary school in Fairburn, near West Yorkshire’s Leeds. It has about 89 pupils, and in a recent Ofsted inspection, was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, 91% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
7. Lord Deramore's Primary School
Lord Deramore’s is a primary school in Heslington, York, with about 218 pupils. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 91% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
8. Askwith Community Primary School
This is a village primary school in Askwith, near West Yorkshire. It has about 95 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 89% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google