Carlton Junior and Infant School

About Carlton Junior and Infant School

Carlton Junior and Infant School sits in the Kirklees local authority, where it has been ranked first out of 94 primary schools, placing it in the top five per cent nationally. Its closest high-performing peers in the area include Netherthong Primary School, St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior, Infant and Early Years School, and Lydgate Junior and Infant School. The school is led by headteacher Rizwana Ahmed and is a mixed, non-denominational state primary for children aged four to eleven. It currently has 216 pupils on roll, slightly above its official capacity of 210, and just over a fifth of its students are eligible for free school meals. In its most recent ungraded Ofsted inspection in December 2024, the school was judged to have improved significantly since its previous graded inspection, and it continues to hold a Good rating across all assessed areas, including leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness.

Academically, Carlton Junior and Infant School delivers results that are well above the Kirklees average. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 97 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined, compared with a local authority average of just 60 per cent. The school also excels at stretching its pupils: 94 per cent reached the higher standard in reading, 97 per cent in maths, and 18 per cent in writing. Average scaled scores were 115 in reading and 114 in maths, both comfortably above the national benchmark. Nationally, the school ranks 62nd out of 13,686 primaries on the combined expected standard metric, and fifth in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. The most recent graded inspection, from March 2015, rated behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision all as Good, and the school has maintained that standard since.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 123 applications for 30 places, with 62 families listing it as their first preference and 29 of those receiving offers. Facilities include a sports hall, dining hall, playing fields, a sensory room, and a chapel. Sports on offer range from tennis and netball to swimming and cross country, and clubs include gardening, book club, science club, art club, and coding. The school has a broad range of SEND provisions, supporting children with specific learning difficulties, moderate to severe learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language needs, hearing and visual impairments, and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses from 29 respondents between September 2024 and September 2025 were overwhelmingly positive: 83 per cent would recommend the school, and strong majorities agreed that children are happy, safe, and well supported. This is a school that suits families looking for strong academic outcomes in a supportive, well-resourced environment.

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