The primary school years are far from all fun and games - with children developing important academic skills that form the bedrock of their learning for years to come.
The end of the current school year is now just weeks away, with the summer holidays set to begin around July 23 in most parts of England. They will then flock back to class en masse for the start of the new, 2025/26 school year in early September.
Thousands of younger children will also be entering Reception, one of the very first steps in their educational journey. With this in mind, we’ve taken a closer look at the top-performing primary schools across the North and West Northamptonshire Council areas, based on our own unique metric.
The key figure it’s based on is the proportion of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the most recently-completed 2023/24 academic year, who met the Government’s expected standards in three essential school skills areas: reading, writing and maths. We’ve only included schools which had at least 85% of their pupils meet this important mark, giving both smaller village schools and larger primaries in centres like Northampton and Wellingborough the chance to shine.
On top of that, we made sure that each school included had a positive rating in its latest Ofsted inspection. These inspections are in the middle of some big changes, but we’ve restricted the list to schools with either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system, or positive ratings across all categories under the current one. This means their quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices have all met or exceeded government standards.
Here were the 16 local schools that made the cut:
13. Ruskin Academy
This is a junior academy in Wellingborough, for pupils aged 7 to 11. It has a roll size of about 266, and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 87% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 60% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
14. Denton Primary School
This is a local authority-maintained primary school in the West Northamptonshire village of Denton – just southeast of Northampton. It has a roll size of about 97, and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 85% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 63% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
15. Parklands Primary School
This is a larger primary academy in Northampton. It has a roll size of about 413, and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 85% of its pupils also met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 63% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
16. Walgrave Primary School
Rounding out the list as the last Northamptonshire state primary school with more than 85% of its Year 6s meeting performance targets is this maintained primary school in Walgrave, West Northamptonshire. It has a roll size of about 135, and in a recent Ofsted inspection, was found to be ‘good’ in all areas. In the 2023/24 school year, 85% of its pupils once again met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 63% locally and 61% nationally. | Google