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Old Palace Primary School

PrimaryAges 4–11Community

Tower Hamlets, E3 3BT · Tower Hamlets local authority

Tower Hamlets’s School Grade A better than 88% of towns in England

Its letter
93%
of England’s primaries have lower KS2 results
Getting in
48/48
first choices offered a place, 2026 (England: 93%)
How full
386 pupils
92% of its 420 places
Free school meals
30%
30 in 100 pupils eligible · outlined square = England’s schools (25)
The gist

What stands out about Old Palace Primary School

  • Its own letter, A: Key Stage 2 results better than 93% of England’s primary schools
  • 81% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 19 points above England’s schools
  • Ofsted: Good, January 2023 (shown, not graded)
  • Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (48 of 48)
  • Homes in its postcode sector (E3 3) sold for a median £374,500; Tower Hamlets’s is £500,000

Results

DfE · Key Stage 2

Reading, writing and maths 81%

Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 93% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Tower Hamlets avg 70%

0%20%40%60%80%100%England avg 61.6%Old Palace Primary 81%

Each subject, 2025

Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 109, maths 108 (100 = the expected standard)

Reading93%
England’s schools 77%
Writing (teacher assessed)86%
England’s schools 73%
Maths82%
England’s schools 75%
Grammar, punctuation and spelling98%
England’s schools 74%

Disadvantaged pupils, 2025

Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths: the 26 disadvantaged pupils and the rest, beside England’s schools

Disadvantaged
73%England 48.5%
Not disadvantaged
77%England 69.4%
Reached the higher standard in all three25%
England’s schools 8% · Tower Hamlets 12% · 2025

England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.

Getting in

How hard is it to get a place at Old Palace Primary School?

Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.

48
families put it first for September 2026
51
places offered
100%
of first choices offered a place (England’s primaries: 93%)
First choices and places, by year of entry
20192020202120222023202420252026
Families who put it firstPlaces offered
Red figures: first choices not offered a place

Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (1), 2020 (7). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Tower Hamlets council sets the admissions rules. Apply through Tower Hamlets council’s coordinated admissions.

Demand for primary schools in Tower Hamlets, September 2026

Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand

1.67 per place
60% got their first choice
1.59 per place
63% got their first choice
1.42 per place
68% got their first choice
1.31 per place
75% got their first choice
1.14 per place
75% got their first choice
1.12 per place
89% got their first choice
1.07 per place
94% got their first choice
1.05 per place
78% got their first choice
1.04 per place
93% got their first choice
Old Palace Primary
0.94 per place
100% got their first choice

Tower Hamlets and Tower Hamlets, side by side

2023–2025

All 64 graded primaries in Tower Hamlets. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Tower Hamlets’s schools are coloured by their letter.

45%53%61%69%77%85%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%Pupils eligible for free school meals →KS2 expected standard →Old Palace
ABCDElsewhere in Tower HamletsOld Palace Primary
Show as a table
SchoolLetterFree school mealsKS2 expected standard
Canary Wharf Primary, GlenworthA+11%89%
Columbia Primary SchoolA+25%86%
Bigland Green Primary SchoolA+35%84%
Globe Primary SchoolA37%82%
Mayflower Primary SchoolA39%82%
Stewart Headlam Primary SchoolA27%82%
Old Palace Primary SchoolA30%81%
Blue Gate Fields Junior SchoolA38%81%
St Peter's London Docks CofE Primary SchoolA20%81%
St Agnes RC Primary SchoolA34%80%
Sir William Burrough Primary SchoolA31%80%
Stebon Primary SchoolA43%80%
William Davis Primary SchoolA48%79%
Virginia Primary SchoolA37%79%
Canary Wharf Primary, East FerryA9%78%
Osmani Primary SchoolA41%77%
Bygrove Primary SchoolA50%77%
Cayley Primary SchoolA56%76%
Kobi Nazrul Primary SchoolA46%76%
Stepney Park Primary SchoolA−48%75%
St Edmund's Catholic SchoolA−20%75%
St Paul's Whitechapel Church of England Primary SchoolA−32%75%
Bangabandhu Primary SchoolA−65%74%
Solebay Primary - A Paradigm AcademyA−39%74%
Lawdale Junior SchoolA−57%73%
Manorfield Primary SchoolA−54%73%
St Mary and St Michael Primary SchoolA−42%73%
John Scurr Primary SchoolA−42%72%
Marner Primary SchoolA−53%72%
Harry Gosling Primary SchoolA−41%72%
Culloden Primary - A Paradigm AcademyA−37%71%
Wellington Primary SchoolB+44%70%
Old Ford Primary - A Paradigm AcademyB+53%70%
The Clara Grant Primary SchoolB+49%70%
St John's Church of England Primary SchoolB+67%69%
St Anne's and Guardian Angels Catholic Primary SchoolB+43%69%
Ben Jonson Primary SchoolB+41%68%
Mowlem Primary SchoolB+45%68%
Woolmore Primary SchoolB+50%68%
Cyril Jackson Primary SchoolB+36%68%
Hague Primary SchoolB34%67%
Christ Church CofE SchoolB36%67%
Lansbury Lawrence Primary SchoolB50%67%
St Paul With St Luke CofE Primary FederationB52%66%
Malmesbury Primary SchoolB49%66%
Seven Mills Primary SchoolB48%65%
Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary SchoolB44%65%
St Paul's Way Trust SchoolB51%65%
Thomas Buxton Primary SchoolB−51%64%
Hermitage Primary SchoolB−43%64%
Halley Primary SchoolB−32%63%
Bonner Primary SchoolB−41%62%
Marion Richardson Primary SchoolB−41%62%
Chisenhale Primary SchoolB−20%61%
Cubitt Town Primary SchoolB−56%61%
English Martyrs Roman Catholic Primary SchoolB−27%61%
St Luke's Church of England Primary SchoolC+37%59%
St Saviour's Church of England Primary SchoolC+45%59%
Olga Primary SchoolC+33%58%
Stepney Greencoat Church of England Primary SchoolC+34%58%
Arnhem Wharf Primary SchoolC+48%58%
Harbinger Primary SchoolC47%56%
Mulberry Canon Barnett Primary AcademyC37%54%
St Elizabeth Catholic Primary SchoolD49%45%

Who goes here

DfE school census, January 2025

394 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.

SEN support
9.4%England 15.3%
EHC plan
6.4%England 3.6%
English as an additional language
83.8%England 18.8%
Free school meals in the last 6 years
33%England 26.2%

Girls and boys

Girls 48%Boys 52%
Its letter

Old Palace Primary School’s letter

Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.

Primary: KS2 reading, writing and maths ABetter than 93% of 15,230 schools
How school letters are worked out

Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.

A+ 95+A 85–94A− 75–84B+ 65–74B 55–64B− 45–54C+ 35–44C 25–34C− 15–24D 5–14D− 0–4

Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.

Ofsted

Ofsted inspections

Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.

Graded inspection: Good, January 2023.

The full reports on Ofsted ↗

Living nearby

Living near Old Palace Primary School

For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.

Home prices in E3 3, the school’s postcode sector

Tower Hamlets property prices →
£374,500
median sale, 364 sales in 36 months · Tower Hamlets £500,000

Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025

£200K£300K£400K£500K£600K2010201520202025E3 3Tower Hamlets
E3 3Tower Hamlets

By type, the 36 months to August 2026

Terraced
£590K
Flat
£370K
E3 3Tower Hamlets

Homes in E3 3 sell for well under Tower Hamlets’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.

Schools within 1.6 miles

58 state schools
0.5 mi1 mi1.5 miNC+A−B+B−AB−A−AC+A−B+B+B−C+ABC+C+BB−A−A−C+A−B−BBB+CABBABA−BA−A−B+AA+B+A−B+A−A−AAAAB+B+C−C+B+BAAOld Palace Primary School
ABCDNo letterPrimarySecondary / all-through

Tower Hamlets, E3 3BT

Old Palace Primary School: common questions

Is Old Palace Primary School a good school?

By its published results, well above average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 93% of England’s primary schools (its letter is A), with 81% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, January 2023.

How hard is it to get into Old Palace Primary School?

For September 2026, 48 families put Old Palace Primary School first and all of them were offered a place; 51 places were offered in all.

What is Old Palace Primary School’s Ofsted rating?

Its latest inspection outcome is Good (January 2023).

How much do houses cost near Old Palace Primary School?

Homes in its postcode sector, E3 3, sold for a median £374,500 over the 36 months to August 2026 (364 sales).

Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.

A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Tower Hamlets’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.