Children at Catholic primary schools are outperforming children at state and private schools, according to the latest ranking of exam results. Faith schools dominated the Sunday Times league table, published last weekend, and represented more than half of the 500 top state primaries, as ranked by 11-year-olds’ performance in SAT exams.
Almost half of the top 100 primary schools in the Sunday Times league table were faith schools; of those 48, 25 were Catholic and 19 Church of England. Faith schools make up 37 per cent of all primaries.
Christ Church, a Church of England primary school in Chelsea, west London, topped the list, followed by St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Willesden, northwest London, one of three Catholic primaries to be featured in the top ten. With a cumulative score across reading, grammar and maths tests of 343 points, St Joseph’s performed better than all but one of the top independent prep schools, and had the same score as the second best-performing prep school, Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls in Elstree.
Another Catholic school, St Bedes in Marske-by-the-Sea, Redcar, part of the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, was named The Sunday Times State Primary School of the Year. The area is one of the poorest parts of the UK.
Its headteacher, Joanna Wilson, paid tribute to the school’s staff, governors, parents and pupils: “An all-inclusive school, we welcome everyone into our loving family, where we respect and care for each other, ensuring that each child is able to fulfil their potential spiritually, academically, socially, morally and culturally.”
A spokesman for the Catholic Education Service told The Tablet: “This is extremely welcome news. The fact that Catholic schools are over-represented in the top 100 primaries in the country is testament to the hard work of teachers and the dedication of parents. It was also great to see St Bedes Catholic school in Redcar named as Sunday Times State Primary School of the Year – a fantastic achievement!”
The Oratory school in south-west London, Our Lady of Victories in Putney, southwest London, and St Antony’s in Forest Gate, east London, also featured in the top 20.
The results came as the Bishop of Brentwood, Alan Williams, announced plans to convert all the schools in the diocese – five primary and one secondary – into academies over the next three years. The schools, in London boroughs including Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham, would come under the control of the Good Shepherd Catholic Trust.
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