Carfield Primary School

About Carfield Primary School

Carfield Primary School’s most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023 rated it Requires Improvement across every category, including overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management. This marks a clear step down from its previous Good rating in 2019. However, the school’s Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 tell a more nuanced story. While only 11% of pupils reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths combined, 65% met the expected standard in all three subjects. That figure sits comfortably above the Sheffield local authority average of 57%, placing Carfield 35th out of 106 primary schools in the area and in the top 50% nationally. The school’s maths and reading average scores both sit at 106, and 85% of pupils achieved the expected standard in each of those subjects individually.

Digging deeper into the exam data, the school’s performance is strongest in maths, where 85% of pupils met the expected standard and 33% reached the higher standard. Reading follows closely with 85% at expected and 32% at higher, while writing lags a little at 70% expected and 19% higher. The school’s ranking score of 65 puts it in the top half of Sheffield primaries, though it sits some way behind the top three local performers — Dobcroft Junior, Totley Primary and Angram Bank Primary, all scoring 82 or above. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Nether Edge Primary, just 1.2 kilometres away. Carfield’s Ofsted report notes that behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision all require improvement, so parents should weigh the solid academic outcomes against the broader concerns flagged by inspectors.

Carfield is a large state primary with nursery provision for children aged three and above, and it currently has 593 pupils against a capacity of 708. It was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry, receiving 109 applications for 47 places, with 46 first-preference offers made — a ratio of 2.32 applicants per place. The school offers a range of facilities including art studios, music rooms, an ICT suite, a sports hall and a chapel, plus clubs such as eco club, science club and coding. Sports include athletics, netball, rounders, swimming and tennis. For SEND, the school supports pupils with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families prioritising above-average KS2 outcomes in a large, diverse setting, but who are comfortable with an institution currently working through an improvement plan.

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