Bathampton Primary School has been listed as the best primary state school in Bath, according to the Sunday Times Parent Power rankings, with Widcombe C of E Junior School in second place.
The Parent Power schools guide judges the schools on three years of results in the annual SATS exams taken by year 6 pupils. While Bathampton came 286th in the 600 schools listed, Widcombe C of E Junior came in 426th.
Bathampton Head Teacher, Paul Falkus, commented that while he was happy to see the school featuring on the table, he added, “The truth is that there are loads of great schools in Bath and the real test of what a school is like is not really how well the year 6 do in one week in May but how it feels when you look around and get to know it.”
“All schools try to ensure that children are happy at school. That is the most important factor in helping children to be successful. Schools want children to feel safe, valued and also challenged to do their personal best and try to ensure that they have rich and engaging lessons. Like many schools nowadays, we are keen on outdoor education and try to get outdoors and out and about when we can. We are fortunate in that Bath is a friendly place and we work closely with other schools and learn a lot from them. We have an amazing staff who really do care about the children, very capable Governors and very supportive parents so hopefully this is an encouragement that we must are doing something right.”
Clare Taylor, Headteacher at Widcombe, added, “We are very proud to be rated as one of Bath’s top schools. It’s a credit to the quality of the teachers and staff here, and the fact that as well as being very forward facing, we are always looking after the needs of the children.”