Dalestorth Primary and Nursery School

About Dalestorth Primary and Nursery School

Dalestorth Primary and Nursery School is a state-funded, mixed primary school in the Nottinghamshire local authority, serving children aged 3 to 11 in the Ashfield borough. Within the local landscape of primary schools in the same authority, Dalestorth sits in the middle of the pack, ranking 12th out of 30 schools in Ashfield and 104th out of 286 primaries across Nottinghamshire as a whole. The top-performing peers in the area, based on ranking scores, are John Blow Primary School, Harworth CofE Academy, and Bunny CofE Primary School. The nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Mapplewells Primary and Nursery School, located 3.1 kilometres away. Headteacher Craig Robertson leads a school with a capacity of 367 pupils and currently 347 on roll, meaning it is operating close to full. The school also offers nursery provision, making it a natural option for families looking for continuity from early years through to the end of primary.

Academically, Dalestorth performs solidly against local benchmarks. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 64% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is slightly above the Nottinghamshire local authority average of 61%. The school’s strongest individual subject was maths, where 76% of pupils met the expected standard and 33% achieved the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 105. Reading saw 78% at expected and 16% at the higher level, with an average score of 104, while writing had 73% at expected and 20% at the higher level. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, the school was rated Good across all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This represents a change from its previous inspection in 2007, when it was rated Outstanding overall, though the earlier inspection did not provide graded breakdowns for all areas.

The school offers a range of facilities including an ICT suite, outdoor playground, sensory room, music rooms, and a chapel. Sports provision covers athletics, gymnastics, cross country, swimming, rounders, cricket, and football, while extracurricular clubs include chess, drama, film club, and coding. For families with children who have additional needs, Dalestorth has a broad set of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school was oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, with 113 applications for 45 places and all 40 first-preference applicants receiving offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.51. This suggests strong local demand, and families considering the school should be aware that securing a place may require a first-preference application.

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