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:
9. Barkston Ash Catholic Primary School
This is a Catholic primary academy in the village of Barkston Ash, near Selby. It has about 137 pupils, and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 89% of its pupils also met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
10. Tockwith Church of England Primary Academy
This is an Anglican primary academy in Tockwith, near Wetherby, with about 226 pupils. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 89% of its pupils once again met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
11. All Saints Church of England School
All Saints is an Anglican primary school in Kirkby Overblow, near Harrogate, with about 68 pupils. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 88% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
12. Birstwith Church of England Primary School
This is a maintained Anglican primary school in Birstwith, near Harrogate, with a roll size of about 65. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 88% of its pupils also met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths – compared to averages of 58% locally and 61% nationally. | Google