Primary schools do important work, helping instil a strong educational bedrock in the children in their care.
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 the North East of England - shining a light on some of the region’s strongest performers in the most recent academic year.
It’s based on the percentage of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the 2023-24 school year, who met the government’s expected standards in three essential school skills: reading, writing and maths. We selected only schools which had the highest proportion of students hit this important mark - which gave smaller village and community schools the chance to shine, while also allowing larger primary schools in centres like Sunderland and Newcastle to show they 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 are 26 schools from across the North East that topped our list:
5. Cestria Primary School
Cestria is a council-run primary school in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, with a roll size of about 407. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% 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. St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School
St Bernadette’s is a Catholic primary academy in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, with a roll size of about 227. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 61% both locally and nationally. | Google
7. Shincliffe CofE Primary School
This is an Anglican primary school in Shincliffe, near Durham, with a roll size of about 204. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 60% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
8. Thornhill Primary School
Thornhill is a council-run primary school in Shildon, County Durham, with a roll size of about 207. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 93% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 60% locally and 61% nationally. | Google