Dodworth St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy

About Dodworth St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy

Dodworth St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy is a small Church of England primary in Barnsley that parents clearly want to get into. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 26 applications for just 14 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.86, and all nine first-preference applicants were offered a spot. That level of demand suggests local families see something valuable here, even though the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2023 rated it Requires Improvement across all five categories — overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision. That’s a notable step up from its previous inspection in October 2021, where it was judged Inadequate overall, with behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management both rated Inadequate. The school has a nursery provision and serves 117 pupils against a capacity of 210, so there is room to grow, and 18.8 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Academically, the school sits in the middle of the pack in Barnsley. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 66 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — just above the local authority average of 63 per cent. That places Dodworth 31st out of 70 primary schools in Barnsley, in the top 50 per cent nationally. Reading scores were a particular strength, with an average scaled score of 105 and 31 per cent of pupils reaching the higher standard, though no pupils achieved the higher standard in writing. Maths was more mixed: the average scaled score was 103, with 17 per cent reaching the higher standard, but progress scores are not available in the data. The school’s ranking score of 66 puts it well behind the top performers in the area, such as Hoylandswaine Primary School with a score of 100, but it is comfortably above the LA average.

The school offers a decent range of facilities for its size, including a sports hall, playing fields, music rooms, a sensory room, a library, a forest school area, and a chapel. Sports provision covers football, tennis, athletics, rounders, dance, and cross country, while clubs include chess, choir, book club, film club, and gardening. For SEND, the school lists support for 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. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Gawber Primary School, 1.7 km away, so families who prioritise a top Ofsted grade may look there. But for those who value a small, oversubscribed village school with a Church of England character, improving inspection trajectory, and solid mid-table results, Dodworth is a realistic and popular choice.

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