The wider Doncaster area is home to some of South Yorkshire’s top performing primary schools when it comes to setting their young pupils up for academic success, new data shows.
The Government has now released updated performance figures for state-funded primary schools in the most recently-ended 2023/24 school year. Using these, we’ve been able to compare how state primary schools across the City of Doncaster council area did - to create a league table of the district’s top performers.
The key figure it’s based on is the percentage of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the 2023/24 academic year, who met the government’s expected standards in three key areas: reading, writing and maths. This has given some smaller village schools the chance to shine, as well as larger schools in Mexbrough, Hatfield, and the Doncaster suburbs. Some of the high-achieving schools on the list also made the overall ranking for South Yorkshire.
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 the 13 schools from across the Doncaster area that shone particularly bright in the last school year:
1. Crookesbroom Primary Academy
At the top of the list is Crookesbroom, a primary academy in the town of Hatfield - northeast of Doncaster but still within the city council bounds. It has about 227 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 96% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to a local average of 60% and a national average of 61%. | Google
2. St Oswald's CofE Academy
St Oswald’s is an Anglican primary academy in the village of Finningley, to the southeast of the city. It has about 229 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 84% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to a local average of 60% and a national average of 61%. | Google
3. Arksey Primary School
This is a smaller, local authority-maintained village primary school in Arksey, just north of the city. It has about 74 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 83% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to a local average of 60% and a national average of 61%. | Google
4. Auckley School
This is a primary academy in Auckley, just east of Doncaster city. It has about 236 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 83% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to a local average of 60% and a national average of 61%. | Google