Newham primary schools top national league tables

St Antony's Catholic Primary School in Forest Gate and East Ham's St Stephen's Primary School ranked at number one and two respectively, with the former also crowned the Times' State Primary School of the Decade.

The prestigious annual report, published on Friday - December 3 - is based on pre-pandemic examination outcomes from 2017- 2019.

St Antony's headteacher Angela Moore told the national paper that she wants her pupils to be "socially well adjusted" and conscious of how they can make "the society they live in a better place".

The head - who took over in 2014 - has taken a primary school marooned to the bottom of the league tables to the pinnacle in less than a decade.

The Sunday Times rankings did not take into account results from 2020 and 2021, as these were based on a system whereby teachers and schools decided on grades themselves, as opposed to an independent examination board.

The results found a significant geographic imbalance, with a disproportionate number of the top schools based in London and the southeast.

About 38 per cent of the top 500 English primary schools are located in London - 14 of these are in Newham.

St Antony's pupils had campaigned to get London City Airport to pay the living wage. Picture: Caroline Teo (Image: Greater London Authority)

Last month, St Antony's became one of nearly 9,000 employers to pay their staff the real Living Wage, having been instrumental in the drive to get other Newham employers doing the same.

The faith-driven school is more than 150 years old, founded in May 1862 by the Ursuline sisters who set up a school on Sun Row - now Green Street - for the Catholic children in the area.

Runner up school, St Stephen's, had 630 pupils as of last year - 94 per cent of whom don't consider English their first language.

According to the school, 38 languages are represented within the school community and 11pc of pupils are entitled to receive free school meals.