Across North Yorkshire, parents of children as young as three will already be looking ahead at nearby school options for next year.
Although the 2025/26 school year has only just begun, applications for a place at a state-funded primary school for the 2026/27 one are open now. While families have until January to get these in, many schools are already scheduling open days and visits for next year’s new Reception starters.
With this in mind, we’ve revisited the top-performing state primary schools across the City of York and North Yorkshire council areas, using our own special metric. The key figure it is based on is the proportion of each school’s pupils that completed Year 6 in the most recently-available school year (currently 2023/24), and met the Government’s expected standards in three essential skills; reading, writing and maths.
This data has now been finalised, so it is worth noting that results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results. Where multiple schools had the same percentage of young learners reach this target, they have been ordered alphabetically.
But grades aren’t the only factor to measure a school environment by, so we’ve also made sure each one included had a positive rating in its most recent Ofsted inspection. While these are set to change in the next couple of months, we’ve limited the list to schools with either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system, or positive ratings across all categories under the most recently used one. This means that quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices all met or exceeded official standards.
Here were the 22 schools from across the county which came out on top - from smaller village schools to larger city and town ones:
5. Knavesmire Primary School
Knavesmire is a primary academy in York, with a roll size of about 482. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 92% of its pupils also met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
6. Fairburn Community Primary School
This is a village primary school in Fairburn, near the border with West Yorkshire. It has about 89 pupils, and in a recent Ofsted inspection, was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, 91% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
7. Lord Deramore's Primary School
Lord Deramore’s is a maintained primary school in Heslington, York, with about 218 pupils. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 91% of its pupils also met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 62% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
8. Askwith Community Primary School
This is a primary academy in the village of Askwith, in the Wharfedale area. It has about 95 pupils, and was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 89% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google