New official data shows that on average, more of Portsmouth’s primary school leavers met the target level in three key academic skills in the last school year - something the city’s schools deserve to celebrate.
The government’s latest preliminary performance figures for state-funded primary schools were released last week, shortly after it published delayed performance figures for secondary schools. From this data, we’ve created a league table comparing state primary schools across the Portsmouth City Council area.
It’s based predominantly on the proportion of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the most recently ended school year, 2023/24, which met the government’s expected standards in three essential areas: reading, writing and maths. We’ve included only the very Portsmouth’s highest performing primary schools, those that surpassed both the local council area and national averages.
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 were 9 Portsmouth schools that stood out this year:
5. Ark Dickens Primary Academy
Another member of the Ark Schools multi-academy trust, this one is in the Buckland part of the city. It has about 446 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 67% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
6. St Paul's Catholic Primary School
St Paul’s is a Catholic primary school in the Paulsgrove area, with about 288 pupils. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, it too had 67% of its pupils meet the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
7. St Swithun's Catholic Primary School
St Swithun’s is a Catholic primary school in the Southsea area. It has a roll size of about 357, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 67% of its pupils once again met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
8. St Jude's CofE Primary School
St Jude’s is an Anglican primary school in the St Thomas part of the city. It has a roll size of about 418, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 62% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google