Dishforth Airfield Community Primary School

About Dishforth Airfield Community Primary School

Dishforth Airfield Community Primary School holds an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across its two most recent inspections. In its June 2023 graded inspection, inspectors awarded top marks across every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This places the school among just 16 primary schools in North Yorkshire to hold the highest rating, out of 292 in the local authority. However, the school’s most recent Key Stage 2 results tell a more complicated story. Only 33% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a local authority average of 60%. That figure ranks Dishforth Airfield 215th out of 223 primary schools in North Yorkshire, putting it in the bottom 50% nationally. The school’s reading average score was 99, and maths averaged 98, both slightly below the national benchmark of 100.

Looking closer at the individual subject data, the picture is mixed. In writing, 61% of pupils reached the expected standard, which is the strongest result of the three core subjects. Reading followed at 50%, while maths lagged behind at 39%. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in each subject was consistently low, at 11% across reading, writing and maths. The school’s Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is difficult to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. The Ofsted report from 2023 does not provide a breakdown of progress measures either, but the inspection team clearly felt the quality of education was outstanding. Parents considering this school will want to weigh the glowing inspection report against the below-average SATs outcomes, particularly if their child is working at or above age-related expectations.

Dishforth Airfield is a small primary school with 93 pupils on roll, well below its capacity of 189. It offers nursery provision for children from age three and has a broad range of facilities including a forest school, sports hall, ICT suite, music rooms and a chapel. The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 23 applications for just 9 places, with all 9 first-preference applicants offered a spot. The oversubscription ratio of 2.56 suggests strong local demand. The school’s SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health, and autistic spectrum disorder. Sports include cross country, football, cricket, swimming, gymnastics and rounders, while clubs range from drama and choir to gardening. This is a well-regarded local school that suits families who value the Outstanding Ofsted rating and the small, community feel, but who are aware that academic outcomes at KS2 are currently below the local average.

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