Parents rely on primary schools to get their child’s educational journey off to a strong start.
These schools will help teach them some of their most important academic and life skills alike. But cities like Sunderland are home to a whole array of high-performing state primary schools, and for local parents and caregivers - finding the one that is the perfect fit for their child and family is not always an easy task.
We’ve created a league table of state-funded primary schools across the Sunderland City Council area, based on the percentage of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the 2022-23 school year (the most up-to-date data available, until finalised data for the 2024 school year is published in December or January) who met the government’s expected standards in three essential school skills: reading, writing and maths. We’ve selected only schools which had at least 75% of the children in their care hit these important targets - surpassing both the council area’s average, and the national average.
Each school included also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was recently dropped, meaning 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 the 15 primary schools in Sunderland that came out on top:
1. St Leonard's Catholic Primary School
At the top of the list is St Leonard’s, a Catholic primary school in Silksworth with a roll size of about 130. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 91% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
2. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School
St Joseph’s is another Catholic primary school, this one in the Pallion area. It has about 270 pupils, and was also formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 90% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
3. Valley Road Academy
Valley Road is a primary school in the Hendon area, with about 390 pupils. It too was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 89% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
4. St Anne's Roman Catholic Primary School
St Anne’s is a Catholic primary school in the Pennywell area. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 87% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google