Loading...The following is a guide to interpreting the top Sunday Times school league tables for 2023. School entrance tests are constantly changing formats. These are the main three school entry exam publishers: GL Assessment, ISEB and CEM Select.
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Top Sunday Times school league tables 2023
Looking for the best primary schools for your child? Wondering whether any top primary schools are nearby?
First thing you need to know is your local catchment area? And then establish which schools are within that catchment area.
Who are we?
We speak as expert test developers ourselves. Infact you can contact our Founder, Rob Williams, at passedpapers@gmail.com
Which are the UK’s top primary schools?
The Guardian, The Times and The Telegraph websites allow you to add filters to their published league tables. You can pull out those schools for which you are in the catchment area. Then compare your chosen school group on those criteria which are most important to you.
How do I interpret primary school league tables?
The London independent school league table rankings are based on the latest exam results.
Check Ofsted Reports for top primary schools
What are Ofsted reports?
- Well firstly these are something that you must check for each indepdnet school of interest.
- Each Ofsted report is an analysis of that school’s teachers’ professional competence
- Plus, how well performance standards have been met across the independent school. There are three possible outcomes: under-achieving; achieving; or outstanding.
How to apply for top primary school places
Depending on your local authority you can submit between three and six school preferences.
Places are allocated by the school’s governing body, an academy trust or the local authority.
Each school will have its own admissions criteria, but within a national framework so that on school offer day parents will receive only one.
Primary school league tables – Best primary schools in UK – top primary schools in uk
What are the benefits of using our Practice test recommendations?
- These 16 plus exam practice materials are closest to your own specific school entry exam format.
- Clearly detailed answer explanations are provided for each question.
- Each 16 plus practice paper breaks down the different question types. Each question format needs to be mastered.
- You can also use the following private school practice tests as your mock exam paper. This is because they mirror the real test’s content.
What do primary school league tables mean?
The primary school league table rankings are based on national key standards, called the SATs. Non-exam based criteria are also used to determine the rankings.
Sunday Times Primary School League Table
1 St Antony’s RC Primary School, Forest Gate, London
2 St Stephen’s School, East Ham, London
3Â Mayflower Primary School, London
4 St Anne’s RC Primary School, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield
5=Â Courtland School, London
5=Â Fox Primary School, London
7Â Lowbrook Academy, Maidenhead
8Â Bevington Primary School, London
9Â Hampden Gurney C of E Primary School, London
10Â Thomas Jones Primary School, London
11Â South Farnham School, Farnham
12Â Colville Primary School, London
13=Â Oratory RC Primary School, London
13= St Barnabas and St Paul’s C of E VA Primary School, Blackburn
15=Â Nicol Mere School, Wigan
15=Â St John Fisher School, Thamesmead, Erith
17=Â Evelyn Street Community Primary School, Warrington
17= St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Willesden, London
19=Â Portswood Primary School, Southampton
19= Scotts Primary School, Hornchurch
How are primary school league tables compiled?
It’s not so easy choosing the right primary school for your child, whether state or private. Although not the only way to judge a school, primary school league tables can give you a good indication of a school’s performance.
There are a few primary school league tables that might provide insight into this. Not to mention our own blog (Private School League Tables).
As mentioned in our Private School League Tables article, parents have been brooding over these league tables for almost 30 years. First introduced by Prime Minister John Major in 1991 as part of the Citizen’s Charter.
Primary school league tables – Best primary schools in UK – top primary schools in uk
Telegraph state primary schools league table
A good place to start looking for a good primary school is the Telegraph’s Primary School League. Not only do they provide an interactive tool where you can search for the nearest outstanding schools. They also list the top 100 schools based on the percentage of learners that achieved the expected standards in reading, writing and maths. Then by the percentage of learners achieving a high score in reading and maths while working at greater depth in writing. They also include the Ofsted ratings.
According to the Telegraph’s Primary School League table, these are the top 5 state primary schools in the UK.
- Boltons CofE School, Wigton, Cumbria – Good Ofsted
- Wincle CofE Primary School, Macclesfield – Good Ofsted
- St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Stafford – Good Ofsted
- Lanercost CofE Primary School, Brampton – Outstanding Ofsted
- The Cathedral School of St Saviour and St Mary Overy, London – Outstanding Ofsted
Primary school league tables – Best primary schools in UK – top primary schools in uk
Prep Schools – Independent Primary Schools
However, if you are looking at Prep schools, the Best Schools league tables and the Tatlers School Guide might also be something that would interest you.
Firstly we look at the Best Schools league tables. They provide 3 different league tables for prep schools. The schools included in these tables are only the ones that share their leaver information.
- Top Boarding Preps
- The top London Preps
- Top All-Through Schools
Top Boarding Preps 2019
This table is based on how many leavers move onto top UK Secondary Schools. All of these boarding preps have more than 50 boarders.
- Ashdown House Preparatory School in Forest Row, East Sussex (co-ed)
- Caldicott School, Slough, Buckinghamshire (boys)
- Cothill House School, Cohthill, Oxfordshire (boys)
- Cottesmore School, West Sussex  (co-ed) TES Boarding School of the Year 2019
- Eagle House School, Sandhurst, Berkshire (co-ed)
- Edge Grove School, Aldenham, Watford, Berkshire (co-ed)
- Elstree, Hertsmere, Hertfordshire (boys)
- Godstowe Prep School, High Wycombe  (girls)
- Ludgrove School, Wokingham, Berkshire  (boys)
- Papplewick School, Ascot (boys)
- Summer Fields School, Summertown, Oxford (boys)
Primary school league tables – Best primary schools in UK – top primary schools in uk
The top London Preps 2019
This table is based on how many leavers go to top Secondary Schools. Only schools that share specific information on their leavers’ destinations are included in this list.
- Sussex House – Boys to 13
- Falkner House – Girls to 11
- Bute House – Girls to 11
- Arnold House – Boys to 13
- Kensington Girls – Girls to 11
- Garden House – Co-ed to 11
- Hall School – Boys to 13
- Broomfield House – Co-ed to 11
- Glendower – Girls to 11
- St Martin’s – Boys to 13
Top All-through Schools 2019
This show the top all-through schools. These are therefore all prep schools attached to top senior schools. The rankings below are based on the GCSE results of the attached secondary school from 2017.
- Westminster Under School – Boys (7 – 13 year-olds)
- North London Collegiate School – Girls (4-18 year-olds)
- King’s College School – Boys (7 -16) – Co-ed (16-18 year-olds)
- City of London School for Girls – Girls (7 – 18 year-olds)
- St Paul’s Juniors (St Paul’s School) – Boys (7 – 13 year-olds)
- Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls – Girls (4 – 18-year-olds)
- South Hampstead High School – Girls – (4 – 18 year-olds)
- Alleyn’s Junior School – Co-ed (4 – 18 year-olds)
- Wimbledon High School – Girls (4 – 18 year-olds)
- The Lady Eleanor Holles School – Girls (7-18 year-olds)
Tatlers London School Guide 2019
Secondly, we have a look at the Tatlers Top Prep School in London 2019. This is a very handy guide as they have a short description of each school. In this 15th edition of this popular guide, the following prep schools were at the top of the list.
- Bassett House, Notting Hill
- Broomwood Hall
- Bute House
- Dulwich Prep London
- Eaton House the Manor Schools
- Eaton Square School
- L’Ecole de Battersea
- Falkner House
- Fulham Prep School
- Garden House School
- Glendower Prep School
- The Hall School
- Hornsby House
- Kensington Prep School
- Knightsbridge School
- Newton Prep School
- Norland Place School
- Northcote Lodge
- Notting Hill Prep School
- Orchard House School
Primary school league tables – Best primary schools in UK – top primary schools in uk
Where can I find primary school league tables?
The Guardian, The Times and The Telegraph websites allow you to add filters to their published league tables. You can pull out those schools for which you are in the catchment area. Then compare your chosen school group on those criteria which are most important to you.
You need to conduct your own analysis to determine which school best suits your child’s specific needs.
Ofsted Reports
Check the latest Ofsted report too. Each Ofsted report is an analysis of that school’s teachers’ professional competence Plus, whether Ofsted’s performance standards have been met across the school. There are three possible outcomes: under-achieving; achieving; or outstanding.
To search you put in the name of any school. You then can access its history of Ofsted inspections and their associated scores, percentage of Progress 8 success, etc.Â
How do I find the best primary school?
More refined searches are recommended. So, for primary schools, we advise checking the percentage of students meeting the expected standards. The national standard is 65%, so if the school you are checking exceeded that in its latest inspection?
If so, shortlist it as one option.
Doing this for all the primary schools in your catchment area.
You now have a shortlist of schools which can review at your leisure.
Provided this is a relatively short’ list, then visit each school for yourself.
Make your decision as much based on your own intuition and gut feel – as on the data described above.
Primarily, ask yourself whether the school atmosphere and ethos are a good fit for your child.