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:
1. Ark Ayrton Primary Academy
Ark Ayrton is a primary school in the Southsea area, with a roll size of about 411 children. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 80% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
2. Langstone Primary Academy
Langstone is a primary school in the Copnor part of the city. It has about 356 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 70% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
3. Penbridge Junior School
Penbridge is a junior school in the Fratton area, which takes children from the age of 7. It has about 441 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 70% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 52% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
4. St John's Cathedral Catholic Primary School
St John’s is a Catholic primary school in the Landport area. It has a roll size of about 243 children, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/23 school year, 70% 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