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Birkwood Primary School

Primary · Barnsley · S72 8HG

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Good

SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection

We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →

Quality of education: GoodBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: GoodSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 10 December 2024

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

432 pupils · 127% of 339 capacity (over capacity)

School type
Community school
Age range
3–11
Gender
Mixed
Free school meals
32.8% of pupils
English as additional language
6.2% of pupils
SEN support
9.3% of pupils
EHC plan
3.8% of pupils
Nursery
Yes
Website
www.birkwood.org.uk/
URN
106620

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

1.03 first-choice applications per place

59 places offered · 61 first-choice applications · oversubscribed

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2025 entry) lived within 1.808 miles

measured in a straight line.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

44 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
61%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
9%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
104
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
104
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school61%
Median of its 12 closest peers57.5%
Barnsley average66.8%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedResult
Rudheath Primary Academy and NurseryNorthwich · 49 miles awayGood55%
Brook Primary SchoolStourbridge · 82 miles awayGood65%
Woodlands Academy of LearningWillenhall · 71 miles awayGood69%
Purbrook Junior SchoolWaterlooville · 187 miles awayExpected standard66%
Oakwood Primary SchoolSouthampton · 181 miles awayExpected standard48%
Plantation Primary SchoolLiverpool · 60 miles awayExpected standard57%
St Peter and St Paul Church of England AcademyLeicester · 61 miles awayGood58%
Lingfield Primary SchoolLingfield · 175 miles awayExpected standard64%
Treloweth Community Primary SchoolRedruth · 283 miles awayNo current grade52%
Wincheap Foundation Primary SchoolCanterbury · 190 miles awayGood66%
Horbury St Peter's and Clifton CofE (VC) Primary SchoolWakefield · 9 miles awayGood52%
Castle Primary SchoolBristol · 156 miles awayGood53%

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
4.4%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
10.8%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
27.7
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

73% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 27% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£6,496
Typical primary school£6,959

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
7/10less deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
6/10around the middle for England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher24.1%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications19.8%18.1%
In managerial or professional work29.2%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways15.1%18.1%
Residents in very good health49.7%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier80.9%62.3%
Social housing6.3%17.1%
Privately rented12.7%20.5%
Detached houses40.8%22.9%
Flats0.8%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms19.1%21.1%
Households with no car or van12.3%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01007347 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,487 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£182,500203 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£135,500–£257,500the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (67)£285,000
Semi-detached (98)£164,000
Terraced (38)£116,500

Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Inside the Reception cutoff distance (2.91 km, 2025 entry): 909 sales, median £168,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
1an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
1an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
8an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
3an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools