League tables triumph for Scottish primary school
APRIMARY school in one of Scotland’s most deprived areas has earned a top spot in the Sunday Times primary school league table. Thorntree Primary in Shettleston, Glasgow, performed flawlessly in reading, writing, numeracy, listening and talking among P7 pupils despite most living in deprivation.
St Catherine’s Primary in Paisley, had another outstanding year after being named Scotland’s most successful school in the 2023 table.
Julie Calman, acting headteacher at Thorntree, said: “Our schools across the city and their dedicated staff continually strive to provide high quality learning and teaching and have high expectations for all our pupils.
“We were the first primary in Glasgow to be awarded the nurturing school award, to recognise an inclusive and caring approach towards our families.
“We feel that a nurturing approach makes for high-quality learning and teaching, that it creates a nice experience, and children just want to come to school.”
The Sunday Times league table ranks all of Scotland’s publicly funded primary schools using the Scottish Government’s Achievement in Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data.
The ACEL data presents the percentage of pupils meeting the required level in reading, writing and numeracy, as well as a combined score for listening and talking.
The Sunday Times aggregates the data into a league table, pushing schools with a higher proportion of deprived pupils further up the table to acknowledge their success in overcoming the widely acknowledged link between poverty and poor academic attainment.
Data from P7 is given the greatest prominence, as this is the final stage before secondary school and reflects the influence of teachers throughout all stages of primary school.
Pupils are placed on a spectrum from very deprived to very affluent in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, which ranks the neighbourhoods where they live by income, jobs, health, education, housing, crime and access to local amenities.
A record 84 schools from nearly 1200 that submitted data scored top marks across all indicators in the school year ending summer 2023.
Across local authorities,
East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire were the best performing councils for primary school attainment.
Schools in the Western Isles and Orkney Isles also perform well, with a high proportion of competent pupils, although their smaller pupil populations can artificially inflate percentages.
The Lothians offer a tale of two councils. West Lothian is near the top of the table with percentages in the mid-80s while East Lothian is second bottom with only around 70% of pupils up to standard in most disciplines.
A Sunday Times Scotland spokesperson said: “We are always careful to clarify that The Times Scotland Primary School League Table is not ‘Scotland’s schools ranked from best to worst’.”