Highlands Primary School

About Highlands Primary School

Highlands Primary School in Kingston upon Hull was judged Outstanding in every category of its most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in February 2024. This is the second consecutive Outstanding rating for the school, which also achieved the top grade in its previous inspection back in 2012. The inspection report gave top marks across the board: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision all received a grade 1. But the most telling academic metric is the Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard. Here, 84% of pupils met the benchmark, well above the local authority average of 65%. That performance places Highlands 7th out of 69 primary schools in Kingston upon Hull, putting it in the top 10% of schools in the area. It also ranks in the top 6% nationally, and in the top 5.5% across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the school’s strengths are clear. In maths, 96% of pupils reached the expected standard and 41% achieved the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 108. Reading was similarly strong: 94% at expected and 31% at the higher standard, also with an average score of 108. Writing saw 84% at expected and 16% at the higher standard. The combined higher standard figure — pupils reaching the higher level in all three subjects — was 12%. These results are particularly impressive given the school’s context: 54.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. The school’s overall ranking score of 84 puts it just behind local Outstanding peers like Bricknell Primary (score 90) and Collingwood Primary (89), and it is one of only 12 Outstanding-rated primary schools in the local authority.

Highlands is a mixed, state primary for children aged 2 to 11, with nursery provision on site. It has 438 pupils against a capacity of 472, so there is some room, but it was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry: 67 applications for 51 places, with 46 first-preference offers made. The school offers a strong set of facilities including a sensory room, music rooms, a gymnasium, a forest school, a library and a chapel. Sports provision covers athletics, cricket, tennis, dance, gymnastics, swimming and netball, and there are clubs for book, science, art and gardening. SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that delivers high academic outcomes while serving a diverse community, and it would suit families who want strong results in a genuinely inclusive setting.

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