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:
5. St Mary's Catholic Primary School
St Mary’s is a Catholic primary school in the city’s Thornhill area. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, it too had 87% of its pupils meet the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
6. Bernard Gilpin Primary School
Bernard Gilpin is a primary school in the town of Houghton le Spring, southwest of Sunderland. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 86% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
7. Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy
Benedict Biscop is an Anglican primary school in the city’s Moorside area. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 84% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google
8. St Paul's Church of England Primary School
St Paul’s is an Anglican primary school in the village of Ryhope, south of Sunderland city. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, 81% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards for reading, writing, and maths, compared to averages of 62% locally and 60% nationally. | Google