League Tables and the Local Schools

Love them or loathe them, the annual school league tables are out and being studied by parents across the country.

Locally, the two primary schools appear as usual in the top third of the Bristol league table. Westbury on Trym C of E Primary School has produced an average SATS score of 30, fractionally below the average for Elmlea Junior School of 30.3. As most local residents know, both schools produce higher than average results compared with Bristol as a whole.

In broad terms, there is often a correlation between a school’s SATS performance and its proportion of students with special education needs. Upper Horfield Primary School, for instance, is the lowest performing primary school on the current league table. It is also a school where 53% of its students are registered with special education needs.

One north west Bristol school to buck this trend in spectacular fashion, however, is Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School in Lawrence Weston. Despite 23% of its student body being SEN (the figure is 7% for the two Westbury on Trym schools) this is now the top-performing primary school in Bristol, as far as that can be measured by the league tables. For the third consecutive year, the school has been awarded the National School Achievement Award and is described by Ofsted as an “outstanding” school.

Congratulations to the staff and pupils.