Arlecdon Primary School

About Arlecdon Primary School

Arlecdon Primary School is a small state primary in Cumberland, a local authority that includes 144 primary schools, of which only five hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. The school sits among a cluster of well-regarded local peers, with Jericho Primary School, Irthington Village School, and Shankhill CofE Primary School all scoring highly on the local ranking index. Arlecdon itself has a Good rating from its most recent graded inspection in 2016, and an ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. Headteacher Tanya Peers leads a mixed-gender, non-religious school for children aged 2 to 11, with a nursery on site. The school is small — just 42 pupils against a capacity of 80 — and 16.7 per cent of children are eligible for free school meals. In the 2025/26 admissions round, the school offered all six of its first-preference applicants from a total of six applications, meaning it was not oversubscribed.

Academic outcomes data for Arlecdon is limited in the available records, but the local context shows that the average Key Stage 2 attainment score across Cumberland is 54. The school’s Ofsted report from 2016 graded both leadership and management and overall effectiveness as Good, and the early years provision was also rated Good in the 2023 ungraded inspection. The previous graded inspection in 2014 had rated the school as Requires Improvement overall, so the improvement to Good represents a clear step forward. With no published Progress 8 or KS2 SATs figures in this data, parents may wish to request the school’s most recent performance tables directly. The school does not have a sixth form, as it is a primary, and there are no A-Level results to report. The Ofsted report notes that behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and quality of education were not separately graded in the most recent inspection, though the school’s overall Good rating suggests solid foundations.

The school offers a broad range of facilities for its size, including a library, music and art rooms, a sports hall, playing fields, an outdoor playground, a forest school, an ICT suite, and even a chapel. Sports provision covers football, cricket, rounders, tennis, cross country, and dance, while clubs include choir, coding, science club, and drama. For children with additional needs, the school has SEND provisions for social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, and autistic spectrum disorder. With only 42 pupils and a capacity of 80, the school has plenty of space, and the fact that it was not oversubscribed in the most recent admissions round suggests it may be a realistic option for families who want a small, rural-style primary with strong local peer comparisons. It would particularly suit families in the Cumberland area looking for a Good-rated school with nursery provision and a forest school, where class sizes are likely to be very small.

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