The Best Towns & Cities In England To Be A Primary School Kid

Being a primary school child in England is a magical time; life is full of imagination and play and you don’t have to worry about council tax, bin day, or any of the other hassles of adult life. But where exactly is the best place to be a primary school child in the UK?

We’ve taken public data from local councils, Yelp and Day Out With The Kids, to find out which towns and cities have the most museums, libraries and soft play centres per 10,000 of the population.

We also calculated the number of Ofsted outstanding providers in each LEA areas in order to find out where is the best place to be a little one from an education perspective.

The results are in and you can see for yourself the best towns and cities in England to be a primary school child – or, to perhaps better phrase it, the best towns and cities in England to bring your children up in!

Ranking	City/Town	Parks (Pts)	Libraries (Pts)	Soft Play (Pts)	Museums (Pts)	Outstanding Ofsted (Pts)	Total (Pts)
1	Norwich	43	42	43	40	38	206
2	Cambridge	42	34	36	41	43	196
3	Oxford	41	13	37	39	42	172
4	Brighton	36	41	6	42	41	166
5	Ipswich	39	35	31	24	35	164
6	Nottingham	30	29	34	35	33	161
7	Hull	24	39	28	33	30	154
8	Middlesbrough	26	40	41	17	16	140
9	Southampton	40	14	12	38	34	138
10	Bristol	18	32	30	30	27	137
11	Portsmouth	29	10	23	37	36	135
12	Manchester	17	16	38	34	28	133
13	Northampton	14	43	35	23	14	129
14	Reading	22	18	29	18	40	127
15	Leicester	34	25	13	29	22	123
16	Plymouth	38	31	10	11	31	121
17=	Liverpool	31	7	25	36	20	119
17=	Poole	33	37	14	31	4	119
19	Blackpool	2	15	40	32	26	115
20	Bournemouth	10	38	33	8	25	114
21	Newcastle	32	22	32	19	8	113
22=	Huddersfield	11	11	39	26	24	111
22=	Southend	37	3	21	27	23	111
24	Slough	16	28	1	25	39	109
25	Warrington	23	21	24	6	32	106
26	York	35	19	4	43	3	104
27	Sheffield	21	24	18	22	17	102
28	Swindon	1	36	27	5	29	98
29	Peterborough	28	27	22	9	11	97
30	Wolverhampton	8	30	20	4	21	83
31	Milton Keynes	19	8	3	14	37	81
32	Derby	4	33	7	16	19	79
33	Telford	25	20	26	0	7	78
34	Stoke	27	2	17	21	6	73
35	Birmingham	20	4	15	20	10	69
36	London	13	12	11	28	1	65
37	Bolton	12	23	16	3	9	63
38	Bradford	3	26	5	15	12	61
39=	Birkenhead	7	1	42	0	5	55
39=	Coventry	5	17	2	13	18	55
41	Leeds	9	9	9	12	15	54
42	Sunderland	15	5	8	10	13	51
43	Luton	6	6	19	7	2	40

To break down the stats further, however, below we’ll take a look at the individual rankings across each of the factors:

Parks

City/Town	Parks Per 10,000 Population	Pts
Norwich	1.030	43
Cambridge	0.771	42
Oxford	0.728	41
Southampton	0.652	40
Ipswich	0.616	39
Plymouth	0.469	38
Southend	0.464	37
Brighton	0.448	36
York	0.400	35
Leicester	0.373	34
Poole	0.359	33
Newcastle	0.354	32
Liverpool	0.321	31
Nottingham	0.317	30
Portsmouth	0.315	29
Peterborough	0.315	29
Stoke	0.314	27
Middlesbrough	0.273	26
Telford	0.258	25
Hull	0.225	24
Warrington	0.212	23
Reading	0.210	22
Sheffield	0.207	21
Birmingham	0.206	20
Milton Keynes	0.203	19
Bristol	0.200	18
Manchester	0.186	17
Slough	0.181	16
Sunderland	0.170	15
Northampton	0.156	14
London	0.151	13
Bolton	0.151	13
Huddersfield	0.137	11
Bournemouth	0.124	10
Leeds	0.124	9
Wolverhampton	0.123	8
Birkenhead	0.113	7
Luton	0.110	6
Coventry	0.098	5
Derby	0.086	4
Bradford	0.083	3
Blackpool	0.066	2
Swindon	0.048	1

Libraries

City/Town	Libraries per 10,000 Population	Pts
Northampton	1.871	43
Norwich	1.030	42
Brighton	0.897	41
Middlesbrough	0.818	40
Hull	0.750	39
Bournemouth	0.747	38
Poole	0.718	37
Swindon	0.717	36
Ipswich	0.704	35
Cambridge	0.686	34
Derby	0.685	33
Bristol	0.676	32
Plymouth	0.665	31
Wolverhampton	0.655	30
Nottingham	0.634	29
Slough	0.634	28
Peterborough	0.630	27
Bradford	0.621	26
Leicester	0.611	25
Sheffield	0.603	24
Bolton	0.603	23
Newcastle	0.602	22
Warrington	0.582	21
Telford	0.581	20
York	0.571	19
Reading	0.560	18
Coventry	0.555	17
Manchester	0.534	16
Blackpool	0.525	15
Southampton	0.512	14
Oxford	0.510	13
London	0.481	12
Huddersfield	0.479	11
Portsmouth	0.473	10
Leeds	0.468	9
Milton Keynes	0.457	8
Liverpool	0.406	7
Luton	0.386	6
Sunderland	0.374	5
Birmingham	0.363	4
Southend	0.348	3
Stoke	0.236	2
Birkenhead	0.225	1

Soft Play Areas

City/Town	Soft Play Per 10,000 Population	Pts
Norwich	0.951	43
Birkenhead	0.676	42
Middlesbrough	0.613	41
Blackpool	0.590	40
Huddersfield	0.479	39
Manchester	0.441	38
Oxford	0.437	37
Cambridge	0.428	36
Northampton	0.416	35
Nottingham	0.387	34
Bournemouth	0.373	33
Newcastle	0.354	32
Ipswich	0.352	31
Bristol	0.350	30
Reading	0.350	29
Hull	0.337	28
Swindon	0.335	27
Telford	0.323	26
Liverpool	0.321	25
Warrington	0.317	24
Portsmouth	0.315	23
Peterborough	0.315	22
Southend	0.290	21
Wolverhampton	0.286	20
Luton	0.276	19
Sheffield	0.264	18
Stoke	0.236	17
Bolton	0.226	16
Birmingham	0.225	15
Poole	0.215	14
Leicester	0.204	13
Southampton	0.186	12
London	0.158	11
Plymouth	0.156	10
Leeds	0.151	9
Sunderland	0.136	8
Derby	0.128	7
Brighton	0.128	7
Bradford	0.124	5
York	0.114	4
Milton Keynes	0.101	3
Coventry	0.098	2
Slough	0.091	1

Museums

City/Town	Museums Per 10,000 Population	Pts
York	1.542	43
Brighton	1.025	42
Cambridge	0.857	41
Norwich	0.713	40
Oxford	0.655	39
Southampton	0.605	38
Portsmouth	0.578	37
Liverpool	0.513	36
Nottingham	0.458	35
Manchester	0.418	34
Hull	0.412	33
Blackpool	0.394	32
Poole	0.359	31
Bristol	0.350	30
Leicester	0.305	29
London	0.304	28
Southend	0.290	27
Huddersfield	0.274	26
Slough	0.272	25
Ipswich	0.264	24
Northampton	0.260	23
Sheffield	0.207	22
Stoke	0.157	21
Birmingham	0.147	20
Newcastle	0.142	19
Reading	0.140	18
Middlesbrough	0.136	17
Derby	0.128	16
Bradford	0.124	15
Milton Keynes	0.101	14
Coventry	0.098	13
Leeds	0.096	12
Plymouth	0.078	11
Sunderland	0.068	10
Peterborough	0.063	9
Bournemouth	0.062	8
Luton	0.055	7
Warrington	0.053	6
Swindon	0.048	5
Wolverhampton	0.041	4
Bolton	0.038	3
Birkenhead	0.000	0
Telford	0.000	0

Outstanding Ofsted Providers In LEA

City/Town	Outstanding Ofsted Providers Per 10,000 Population	Pts
Cambridge	3.256	43
Oxford	2.694	42
Brighton	2.562	41
Reading	2.380	40
Slough	2.173	39
Norwich	1.901	38
Milton Keynes	1.775	37
Portsmouth	1.628	36
Ipswich	1.496	35
Southampton	1.396	34
Nottingham	1.373	33
Warrington	1.270	32
Plymouth	1.212	31
Hull	1.162	30
Swindon	1.147	29
Manchester	1.137	28
Bristol	1.126	27
Blackpool	1.115	26
Bournemouth	1.058	25
Huddersfield	1.026	24
Southend	0.987	23
Leicester	0.984	22
Wolverhampton	0.982	21
Liverpool	0.855	20
Derby	0.727	19
Coventry	0.718	18
Sheffield	0.660	17
Middlesbrough	0.613	16
Leeds	0.592	15
Northampton	0.572	14
Sunderland	0.510	13
Bradford	0.476	12
Peterborough	0.441	11
Birmingham	0.431	10
Bolton	0.414	9
Newcastle	0.390	8
Telford	0.387	7
Stoke	0.354	6
Birkenhead	0.338	5
Poole	0.287	4
York	0.228	3
Luton	0.110	2
London	0.071	1

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