Atwood Primary School

About Atwood Primary School

Atwood Primary School in Croydon holds a Good rating from its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, a step down from the Outstanding grade it achieved in its previous inspection back in 2008. The inspection report highlights real strengths in personal development and behaviour and attitudes, both of which were rated Outstanding. Leadership and management, quality of education, and early years provision were all judged Good. When it comes to academic outcomes, the most telling metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. At 56%, this figure falls below the Croydon local authority average of 66%, placing Atwood 60th out of 88 primary schools in the borough and in the bottom half nationally. This is a school with clear pockets of excellence in pastoral care but with room for improvement in core academic attainment.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the picture is mixed. Reading is a relative strength: pupils achieved an average scaled score of 108, with 87% reaching the expected standard and 37% reaching the higher standard. Maths is more middling, with an average score of 105, 83% at the expected level and 24% at the higher level. Writing is where the school struggles most, with only 57% of pupils reaching the expected standard and none reaching the higher standard. The school’s ranking score of 56, based on the combined expected standard metric, places it in the bottom 50 nationally. For context, the top-performing school in Croydon, Heathfield Academy, scored 90. Atwood’s progress scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, so it is hard to say whether pupils are making typical progress from their starting points.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 262 applications for just 57 places, with 62 first-preference applications and 50 offers made. That is an oversubscription ratio of 4.6, suggesting strong local demand despite the middling results. Facilities include a sensory room, music rooms, a sports hall, art studios and an ICT suite, and the school offers a range of clubs from coding to gardening and film club. Atwood has a broad SEND offer, with provisions for dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. Only 4.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the national average, which may reflect the demographic of the catchment area. This is a school that suits families who prioritise a supportive, well-behaved environment over raw academic scores.

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