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:
9. Jerry Clay Academy
The Jerry Clay Academy is a primary school in Wrenthorpe, just northwest of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 211 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% 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
.jpeg?crop=4:3&trim=&width=800)
10. Larks Hill Junior and Infant School
Larks Hill is a primary school in Pontefract, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 208 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% of its pupils once again met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
11. Beckwithshaw Community Primary School
This is a primary school in the village of Beckwithshaw, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 59 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 92% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
12. Knavesmire Primary School
Knavesmire is a primary school in York, North Yorkshire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted, and has about 482 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, 92% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google