St Ann's and Eastwood schools top primary league tables

St Ann’s Junior and Infant School, Eastwood Village School and Coleridge Primary have come out first, second and third respectively in the new government table, which examines pupils’ overall progress between Years 2 and 6.

The ranking is based on how 11-year-olds in each school performed in National Curriculum tests — or Sats — taken at the end of primary school compared with the results of their Sats at age 7.

Three schools all located less than a mile away from each other topped the league table for having well above average progress in reading, writing and maths.

St Ann’s in Eastwood was ranked as having the borough’s top writing progress score at +8.8, where zero is the average.

The 48 pupils who took Sats last spring also had Rotherham’s top progress scores of 6.8 in maths and 4.9 in English.

Joint headteachers Sharon Blagden and Lee Rowan said they were delighted with the results, which they said reflected staff and pupils’ hard work. 

Sharon said: “We are so proud of all our dedicated staff and want to thank them for their tireless efforts to make a difference to the lives of the children in school.” 

Lee added: “We want to thank the pupils — they come to school, they are enthusiastic to learn, and our ethos is to make sure every child develops to their very best potential.”

St Ann’s is Rotherham’s most diverse school with 27 languages spoken across the year groups.

Lee previously told the Advertiser that the majority of school starters had little or no English and “accelerating their progress” was paramount to give them a chance of being ready for secondary school.

Newly-formed 180-pupil Eastwood Village School and Coleridge are part of the same academy trust.

At Eastwood Village, Roma Slovak children make up around 80 per cent of the roll and around 15 languages are spoken at the school.

Wickersley Northfield Primary School was ranked fourth in overall performance and Laughton All Saints CofE Primary came fifth.

Staff at Laughton are also celebrating after it was ranked as having the borough’s top attainment score — with 92 per cent of its 12 Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Laughton assistant headteacher Jessica Stowell said: “We are incredibly proud of our committed and enthusiastic learners in school.

“In addition, we are proud of our good Ofsted judgement and excellent church inspection judgement, but, above all, we are proud of our hardworking children throughout school.”  

Anston Hillcrest Primary School was ranked as having the highest percentage of pupils achieving at a higher standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Year 6.

The primary school league table data has been published by the Department for Education and gives a snapshot of how well each school is performing and tracks pupils’ progress.

It does not take into account extra curricular activities like sport and drama, or, for example, how well a school tackles bullying.

For a full breakdown and to find our the scores for your child’s school, visit www.gov.uk.