Armathwaite School

About Armathwaite School

Armathwaite School was rated Good in its most recent graded Ofsted inspection, a solid outcome that places it among the majority of primary schools in Westmorland and Furness. The inspection, which took place in 2022, also confirmed that the school remains Good in an ungraded visit, with leadership and management judged Good too. That said, the school’s most telling academic metric is its Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24, where 55% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure sits just below the local authority average of 58%, placing Armathwaite 59th out of 121 primary schools in Westmorland and Furness. Nationally, it ranks in the 68th percentile among all state primaries, which puts it in the bottom half of schools when ranked by this particular measure. The school’s ranking score of 55 confirms it falls into the bottom 50 tier of its local authority.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 SATs data, the picture is mixed. In writing, 73% of pupils reached the expected standard, which is a strong showing, but no pupils achieved the higher standard. Reading saw 55% at expected and 18% at the higher level, while maths had 55% at expected and just 9% at the higher level. The average scaled scores were 100 in reading and 102 in maths, both in line with national expectations. No progress scores are available for this cohort, so it is not possible to say how much value the school added relative to pupils’ starting points. The previous Ofsted inspection, back in 2007, had rated the school Outstanding overall, so the current Good rating represents a step down, though the 2022 inspection found no cause to downgrade further. The school’s early years provision was Outstanding in that earlier inspection, but no separate early years judgement was made in 2022.

Armathwaite is a small primary with 71 pupils against a capacity of 80, and it offers nursery provision for children aged three and up. The school is oversubscribed for Reception places in 2025/26, with 12 applications for 7 places and all 7 first-preference applicants offered a spot, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.71. Facilities include an ICT suite, a Forest School area, playing fields, a sports hall and a dining hall, plus a chapel. Sports on offer include athletics, swimming, cross country, rounders and cricket, while clubs range from coding and gardening to book club, chess and science club. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is 12.1%, slightly below the national average. This is a school that will suit families who value a small, community-focused setting with a good range of extracurricular activities, and who are comfortable with academic outcomes that are broadly in line with local averages rather than pushing into the top tier.

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