When it comes to teaching children essential numeracy and literacy skills, the Bedfordshire county is home to plenty of primary schools that continue to do an excellent job.
The Government’s latest preliminary performance figures for state-funded primary schools were released last month, shortly after it published delayed performance figures for secondary schools. From this data, we’ve been able to compare how state primary schools across the Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough and Luton Borough Council areas did, to create a league table of Bedfordshire’s top performers overall.
This is based on one key figure: 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. We’ve included only those which exceed both the national and local authority area’s average, with more than 75% of their pupils achieving this significant goal.
Local families with their finger on the performance data pulse will spot some familiar names from last year’s Bedfordshire rankings. But quite a few new schools have also made this year’s list - ranging from tiny village schools to larger ones in places like Bedford and Luton.
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 16 schools from across Bedfordshire that came out on top:
9. Eileen Wade Primary School
Eileen Wade is a primary school in Upper Dean, with about 76 pupils. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 77% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 55% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
10. Leighton Middle School
This is a middle school for pupils in the late primary to early secondary school years (aged 9 to 13), in Leighton Buzzard. It has about 595 pupils, and was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 77% of its primary-aged pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 53% locally and 61% nationally. | Google
11. River Bank Primary School
River Bank is a primary school in Luton, with a roll size of about 736. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 77% of its pupils also met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 61% both locally and nationally. | Google
12. Leagrave Primary School
Leagrave is another primary school in Luton, with about 454 pupils. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, 76% of its pupils met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths - compared to averages of 61% both locally and nationally. | Google