Appleby Primary School

About Appleby Primary School

Appleby Primary School is a state primary for mixed pupils aged 3 to 11, serving the Westmorland and Furness area. With 179 pupils on roll against a capacity of 294, the school is operating well below its maximum, which gives it room to grow. That said, demand is clearly present: for the 2025/26 intake, the school received 23 applications for 16 places, and all 16 first-preference applicants were offered a spot, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.44. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 16.8 per cent, which is slightly above the national average for primary schools and suggests a modestly above-average level of disadvantage in the intake. The school has no religious character and is led by headteacher David Spruce, who took over at some point before the most recent Ofsted inspection.

Academically, Appleby Primary holds a Good rating from Ofsted across all five graded categories in its March 2024 inspection, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This is consistent with its previous Good rating from 2014. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 56 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure sits just below the local authority average of 58 per cent. The school’s average scaled scores were 105 in reading and 103 in maths, with 13 per cent of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading and the same proportion in maths. In the Westmorland and Furness primary rankings, Appleby places 55th out of 121 schools, placing it in the middle of the pack locally and in the bottom half nationally.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a sensory room, sports hall, outdoor playground and music rooms, plus a broad sports programme covering rounders, football, dance, cricket, swimming, athletics and tennis. Clubs include drama, choir, gardening, science club and eco club. For pupils with additional needs, the school provides a SEN unit and resourced provision, with support for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. There is nursery provision for younger children. Appleby Primary is a good fit for families seeking a well-rated local school with strong SEND support and a manageable class size, though those prioritising top-tier academic outcomes may want to look at higher-ranked peers such as Yarlside Academy or St Mary’s Catholic Primary in Ulverston.

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