How much do Ofsted and league tables/attainment percentages matter when choosing a primary school?

[Hann376]

Looking for some advice. Most of our local primaries are good, one is outstanding but gives priority to church attendees and we aren’t religious.

however looking at the league tables none of them are particularly different but none are that high (apart from the outstanding school) in the % of pupils achieving expected standard in English, maths etc.

how important is Ofsted and also % of pupils achieving standards? If my children are reasonably intelligent will they do well in any primary school or should I try for one with a higher percentage?

are there any other factors to consider?

I personally didn't find it relevant at all. I went by local rep and people I knew who sent their dc there.

I wanted to be able to walk to school and for them to have nearby friends, so went for the closest.

My dc are well supported with a lucky and stable home life, lots of holiday and trips out and books at home. I know that all of that will influence their educational attainment the most so was more interested in them going somewhere local and kind.

Attainment data for primaries is much less rigorous with lots of room for subjectivity by the school's own staff. Our nearest Outstanding Primary has unbelievable (in the property sense of the word) Sats results and a huge over focus on being shiny.

Ofsted is just one of many factors and certainly not the most important IMHO.

For us, a local school that we could walk to, where their classmates would live nearby, that they could walk home from independently in later years, was really crucial.

Then we visited the local schools and chatted to staff and pupils to get a feel for how they operated. What is the outdoor and indoor space like? How many pupils in a year – we preferred two+ classes to give room to move pupils and also make setting possible. What kind of vibe do you get? Is the school somewhere you can see your child doing well?

That's the kind of thing we looked at way ahead of the year 6 results tbh.

Another key aspect is – will you be allocated a place? No point falling in love with a school only to live too far away. Remember you are not choosing a school if it is state – you are expressing a preference. Make sure you include your catchment or nearest school even if you are not keen (put it last on the list) as that’s better than a far away one which may be what you are offered if your other prefs are too aspirational.

One good way to check out a school is at their public events – spring or summer fair for example.

Admission criteria is important, as several people applying for secondary have just discovered.
What are the percentages compared with national figures?

If the schools are rated good, they must have satisfied Ofsted that the education offered is sound.

Theres a great deal to be said for attending a local school, with a short journey, ease of getting there, making local connections and friends.

@clary is absolutely right. It’s a preference not a choice and you must select a ‘banker’. The best thing to do is to visit and get a feel for the schools. The atmosphere, the interaction, whether it’s vibrant etc.

Our closest school also happened to be my favourite when we looked round quite a few. It was rated good at the time, but has since been inspected again and was graded outstanding.

It made no odds to me as I knew it was the right school and for DD. She’s really happy there.

I taught primary for 16 years and I worked in outstanding schools I wouldn’t dream of sending my child to knowing what I knew.

I picked the most local primary, where I also liked the head. I thought my child would be happy there. Figured I could plug in any gaps. No regrets, they are only little once. Didn't even read an Ofsted.

Percentages will tell you about the school intake.

For example, school near us where 99% of the parents come from affluent, middle class families with professional jobs, and where many of the children also receive private tutoring. Is it really a mark of a good school that they get good marks in SATS?

Results that are at odds with the intake, tell you a lot, however. If the school in my example above was getting below average or even average results, I'd avoid like the plague.

Thank you how do you know about the intake?

A combination of last year's admissions information, catchment areas (if you are in a place that has catchments) and local knowledge. Primary schools don't tend to take in large numbers of children.

Closest school you can easily walk to wins hands down at primary. Gets kid into the habit of daily exercise, meets friends on the way, can walk by themselves when older. You also get to know other parents on the school run. And if most people live close to the school play dates are much easier.

I removed my daughter from an outstanding primary that looked great from percentages and league table. It was all they cared about, there was nothing supportive or thoughtful about the place. I wish she'd gone to the other local school which didn't look as good on paper but actually are there for the children

Only to identify somewhere that is really failing. Other than that you can tell more by visiting and seeing what it's like. How do the staff interact with the children? Is the head visible (knows what's going on) or hiding in the office? What is the school motto/values? (places that include kindness and justice rather than excellence or resilience work better for us with SEND children). What is pastoral care like? SEND provision if applicable? Childcare arrangements if needed? I think you know if your child will fit there quite quickly. I visited a very highly regarded primary and knew within minutes that I would not be applying there, I have since found out that it was a good call.

Thank you that’s helpful. What is it about some outstanding schools that would put you off - is it too much pressure on children to achieve grades etc?

Ofsted are so inconsistent, I really wouldn’t bother looking at the old form of report. The new ones are slightly more useful, but still based on such a short time in the school that they don’t really tell you what a school is like. You need to get in and visit during the school day, and as PPs have said, staying local has a lot going for it.

When I looked around I asked about staff turnover, homework, the school library, and a few specific things about the curriculum.

The outstanding and highly competitive primary which was our nearest just didn't feel right. It hadn't been inspected for 14 years, there was something about the atmosphere, and the work on the wall didn't show much creativity - all looked very formulaic. There had been a huge turnover of staff in the last few years. The school I chose had slightly lower scores but a great reputation for pastoral care and a lovely friendly feel. She is very happy there.

You can't beat gut feeling for primary.

I'm not the poster you were responding too, and clearly not all schools are the same, so you should consider the school in your area in its own right, but I have 3 friends with children who used to be in 3 outstanding schools in entirely different parts of the country who moved their children due to the schools being inflexible - they liked children to fit a certain mould and were not necessarily so good for those that didn't - think any type of SEND, or interests outside of the standard curriculum, or any other type of "non-conformity".

And, no, you probably can't be sure at age 3/4, that you won't have such a child.

Go look at them, start with your closest school and work out. I didn’t even look at attainment and only glanced at Ofsted to check they weren’t in special measures. I do seem to have lucked out with a school that was good when we started, and is now outstanding whilst still having good send support ( which I didn’t know we needed when applying), but I chose it because it was the closest school, we could walk to it, and the children seemed happy.

If you look at the data on the schools website, or look it up on government websites you will find out quite a lot about the intake. How many free school meals, children with English as an additional language, proportion of girls
to boys, numbers with Statements etc etc. These aren’t negatives imo, but if you find a school where they have a high proportion of FSM/EAL and are achieving close to or above local and national averages then you can be pretty sure they are on the ball and looking at the achievement of all their pupils,

They were both important for us to narrow the list of schools to 4, but ultimately we gave priority the one which had afterschool club availability (still a good school). I would however encourage to look beyond ratings/exam scores.

I would read Ofsted reports and pay attention to any comments about improvement areas, for example we rejected one of schools because even though it was rated as 'good' the report mentioned lack of provisions for children performing at greater depth. The school also had no children working at greater depth in maths, reading & spelling (national average is ~9% I think), so if my child turned out to be academic, there would be no opportunity for her to develop well in this school.

I also looked into exam results by demographics, for example one of the schools had really good Maths scores, but they were very weak among children on FSM (this group scores lower usually, but they were really bad) which led me to believe it was more about parental input than quality of teaching.

Definitely go and visit the schools as well. We have one of London's top performing state primaries (academy not LA) near us but when I went to visit, it felt really sad. There was no childhood noise, the head didn't do the tour (despite only having 50% of the class filled so you'd think they'd be keen for bums on seats) and the lady from the office couldn't answer all our questions, they were talking about ripping up the beautiful mature field and replacing with astroturf, it is near a recycling centre and the playground really smelt. All those factors were not outweighed by the ofsted and the results for me. Instead, we picked a different local primary, where the results were not as strong, but the head was very impressive, the classrooms were lovely on visiting, DD loves playing on the outside field now the weather is turning etc. We decided if the academics are not as good as she gets older, we will supplement with a tutor but we prefer her to spend her days in a more supportive environment than somewhere very miserable.

Primary league tables tell a tiny part of the story. They are based on % of pupils achieving a minimum standard in Y6. Ofsted is useful to identify if there may be concerns at the school, but things can change very quickly - for better and worse.
Both have some use, but I think if you have friends with older children at the school who you can talk to thats the best way to get an idea of what its really like day to day.

The primary at the end of our road that mine go to was 'needs improvement' 12 years ago. Its now 'outstanding' and one of the top nationally in the league tables. Doesn't mean everyone will have a good experience there though.

Its a v mixed area socially/economically. They focus hard on getting the Y6's to the minimum standard - from spring they get them in for extra school on Saturday mornings, and for a week in the Easter holidays. Feels like overkill to me, but mine aren't there yet so its hard to know what it'll feel like once they are. Doesn't seem to come at the expense of all the other good stuff.

But, despite the local primaries all doing really well, the local secondaries are awful in the league tables, despite it being all the same kids from the primaries going there. Haven't yet worked out whats going on there.

I removed my DC2 from an ´outstanding’ nursery. It was shocking bad! Ofsted came to inspect a month after we left and guess what, it received another outstanding judgement!

DC1 went to a ‘good’ school. I pulled her out as she was slipping further and further behind. SEND support was pretty non-existant. I’m assuming that because she was well behaved she was just allowed to drift along sitting at the back of the class. Very mixed area and I know a number of parents of kids with SEN are paying for private tutors to help their kids.

DC1 new school is also a ‘good’ school but it is worlds apart from school 1 and DC1 is now making progress.

I rarely pay attention to Ofsted reports unless there is safeguarding issues as I find they are rarely accurate.

I find it really frustrating how naive the general public are to just how inconsistent (and therefore untrustworthy) Ofsted are. We are in a trust with other schools and things like the exact same planning was judged in two different schools as Outstanding in one and RI in another, weeks apart. Sentences that featured in the report, and were made to sound like entire behaviour cultures, were based on literally one child observed doing something once, like not putting their book away in the box immediately when asked. One child, out of a whole school. Until very recently, infant schools were something like 75% more likely to be judged Outstanding than junior schools. The whole system is just nonsense.

I’d want a school with a reputation for looking after the kids and ensuring they actually enjoy school as much as how well they achieve , have found over the years that the schools the kids enjoyed going to weren’t automatically the “ top achieving “ but those where the teachers knew the kids and bought the best out of them. Schools also change, locally one of the schools that was noted for poor achievement, bad behaviour ,etc , has over the last ten years or so become one of the most sought after, due to shifting demographics and hard work by the school

@Hann376 you can get quite a lot of data about school pupil characteristics from this site:

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25

Perhaps the most useful spreadsheet is in the 'supporting files' folder and is called 'spc school level underlying data 2025'.