Brentnall Academy

About Brentnall Academy

Brentnall Academy is a state primary school in Salford that received 13 first-preference applications for its 13 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, meaning every family who put it first got a spot. The school was oversubscribed overall, with 18 applications for those 13 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.38. That level of demand suggests a solid local reputation, though it is worth noting that the school does not have a formal parent-view survey result to back that up. The school serves a community with high levels of disadvantage — 50.5 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. It has a nursery provision for children from age three, and the headteacher is Claire Woolley. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in September 2022, rated it Inadequate overall, a sharp drop from its previous Good rating in 2012.

Academically, the picture is challenging. In that 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management all as Inadequate, while early years provision was also Inadequate and personal development was judged as Requires improvement. The school has not published Key Stage 2 SATs results in the available data, so it is not possible to compare its attainment against the Salford local authority average of 61 per cent reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Of the 75 primary schools in Salford, only nine are rated Outstanding by Ofsted, and the nearest one to Brentnall is St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School, 0.7 kilometres away. The school’s top-performing local peers include Broadoak Primary School, St Mary’s RC Primary School and St Thomas of Canterbury, all of which score highly on the local ranking.

Brentnall Academy offers a range of facilities including a dining hall, outdoor playground, forest school, library, gymnasium, art studios and a chapel. Sports on offer include cricket, cross country, netball, football and rounders, and there are clubs for choir, drama, gardening and film club. The school has a broad SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. With 196 pupils against a capacity of 266, the school is under-enrolled, which may appeal to families looking for a smaller setting. Given the Inadequate Ofsted rating, parents will want to satisfy themselves that the school is addressing the inspection findings, but the strong first-preference take-up and the range of facilities and SEND support suggest it remains a valued local option for some families.

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