Ball Green Primary School

About Ball Green Primary School

Ball Green Primary School sits within the Stoke-on-Trent local authority, where it ranks 62nd out of 63 primary schools of the same type, placing it in the bottom percentile locally. The top-performing peers in the area — Goldenhill Primary Academy, Newstead Primary Academy, and Co-op Academy Glebe — all achieved a ranking score of 90, highlighting a significant gap in measured outcomes. The school is a mixed, state-funded primary for children aged 3 to 11, with a nursery provision and no religious character. Headteacher Jonathan Hankey leads a school that has seen considerable improvement since its last inspection. In 2018, Ofsted rated the school as 'Requires improvement' overall, with early years provision, leadership, and management all marked as requiring improvement. By its most recent graded inspection in September 2022, the school had turned things around, achieving a 'Good' rating across every category: overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision.

Academically, the school's Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show a mixed picture. Just 30% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined — well below the local authority average of 60%. The school ranks in the bottom 50 nationally, sitting at the 97th percentile in the West Midlands region. Individual subject scores are more encouraging: the average reading score was 103, and the average maths score was 100, both in line with national expectations. However, the proportion reaching the higher standard in reading, writing, and maths combined was only 4%, with maths higher standard at 8% and writing higher standard at 14%. The school has a very high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 65.2%, which is a significant contextual factor. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is difficult to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points, though the Ofsted report noted good quality of education and personal development.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including music rooms, a sports hall, dining hall, ICT suite, sensory room, and a chapel. Sports provision is broad, with netball, tennis, dance, rounders, athletics, swimming, and cricket on offer, alongside clubs such as art, drama, gardening, and coding. The school has a strong SEND focus, with provisions for specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, and physical disability. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed: 42 places attracted 43 total applications, with 38 first-preference offers made. This suggests a modest but real local demand. The nearest outstanding-rated school is St Marys Catholic Academy, 1.1 km away. Ball Green is a good fit for families in the Stoke-on-Trent area who want a recently improved, inclusive primary with strong pastoral support and a wide range of extracurricular activities, particularly for children with SEND needs or those who benefit from a nurturing, well-resourced environment.

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