Leeds is home to plenty of excellent primary schools with a strong track record of giving their young pupils a solid educational foundation - but some are standing out from the crowd.
The Government’s new preliminary performance figures for state-funded primary schools have just been released. From this data, we’ve been able to compare how state primary schools across the Leeds City Council area performed in the most recent school year.
The key figure it’s based on is the percentage of each school’s pupils who completed Year 6 in the 2024/25 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 the larger city schools that made the list.
But grades aren’t the only way to measure school success. We’ve also made sure each one on our league table had a positive mark in its latest Ofsted inspection. These are soon set to change, but we’ve restricted the list to schools with either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system, or positive ratings across all categories under the current one. 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 are the 27 state primary schools across Leeds that topped the list:
1. Harewood Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
At the top of the list is this local authority-maintained Anglican primary school in Harewood, which was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had a roll size of 100. An impressive 100% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | Google
2. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School
Corpus Christi is a local authority-maintained Roman Catholic primary school in Halton Moor, and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had a roll size of 275. 93% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | Google
3. Shire Oak VC Primary School
This local authority-maintained Anglican primary school in Headingley was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it has a roll size of 209. 93% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | Jonathan Gawthorpe
4. St Francis Catholic Primary School, Morley
St Francis is a local authority-maintained Roman Catholic primary school in Morley and was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had a roll size of 250. 91% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | James Hardisty
5. Wigton Moor Primary School
This local authority-maintained primary school in Wigton Moor was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had a roll size of 419. 90% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | Google
6. Meanwood Church of England Primary School
This local authority-maintained Anglican primary school in Meanwood was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had a roll size of 214. 90% of its pupils met the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths - compared to averages of 61% locally and 62% nationally. | Google