Cherry Tree Hill Primary School

About Cherry Tree Hill Primary School

Cherry Tree Hill Primary School sits in a competitive Derby primary landscape, and its headline Key Stage 2 results tell a mixed story against the local authority average. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined is 51%, which is below the Derby LA average of 55%. That places the school 36th out of 74 primaries in the authority, putting it in the bottom half locally and the bottom 50% nationally. However, the picture is more nuanced when you look at individual subjects: 69% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, and 63% in reading, while maths lagged behind at 61%. The school also achieves a higher-than-average proportion of pupils working at greater depth in reading (23%) compared with writing (12%) and maths (13%). So while the headline combined figure is below the LA norm, the school is not uniformly weak — reading and writing outcomes are notably stronger than maths.

Academically, the school has improved significantly since its last graded inspection. In 2018, Ofsted rated Cherry Tree Hill as Requires Improvement overall, with leadership and management and early years provision both judged as Requires Improvement. By its most recent graded inspection in 2023, the school had turned things around to achieve a Good rating across all assessed areas, including leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness. The ungraded inspection later that same year confirmed the school remains Good. On the KS2 SATs, the average scaled scores were 103 for reading and 102 for maths — both slightly above the national baseline of 100. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading (23%) is notably stronger than in maths (13%) or writing (12%). With a Progress 8 figure not available, it is hard to measure value-add precisely, but the improvement in Ofsted grades suggests the school is heading in the right direction.

Cherry Tree Hill is a large primary with 614 pupils on roll, close to its capacity of 630, and it is oversubscribed: for 2025/26, there were 119 applications for 71 places, with 70 first-preference offers made. The school serves a relatively disadvantaged catchment, with 39% of pupils eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. It offers a nursery provision for children from age three and a broad range of facilities including a Forest School, ICT suite, dining hall, and chapel. Sports provision covers gymnastics, dance, cricket, football and netball, while clubs include coding, chess, gardening, eco club, choir and science club. The school has extensive SEND support, catering for moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language difficulties, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families looking for a large, inclusive primary with strong pastoral and SEND provision, where academic results are improving but still below the local average in combined measures.

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