Gooseacre Primary Academy

About Gooseacre Primary Academy

Gooseacre Primary Academy is a state primary school in Barnsley, serving children from age 2 to 11. It sits within a local authority that contains 77 primary schools, three of which hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. Gooseacre itself is ranked 51st out of 70 primaries in Barnsley, placing it in the bottom half of the local league table. The top-performing peers in the area, according to the same ranking metric, are Hoylandswaine Primary School, Thurgoland Church of England Primary School, and Hunningley Primary Academy. The school is led by headteacher Jack Moore and has a non-religious character. It is notably oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 75 applications for 50 places, with 55 of those applications listing Gooseacre as a first preference. The school also offers nursery provision, which may appeal to families looking for an early start within the same setting.

Academically, Gooseacre’s most recent Key Stage 2 results, from the 2023/24 academic year, show that 55% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined. This is below the Barnsley local authority average of 63%. In individual subjects, 74% reached the expected standard in maths, 67% in reading, and 60% in writing. At the higher standard, 26% achieved it in maths and 23% in reading, but no pupils reached the higher standard in writing or across all three subjects combined. Average scaled scores were 104 in both reading and maths. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in March 2025, judged it as Good across all graded areas, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Its previous inspection, in 2020, also rated it Good overall. The school has held a consistent Good rating across both its recent inspections.

Gooseacre offers a broad range of facilities, including a library, gymnasium, forest school, art studios, outdoor playground, playing fields, and a dining hall. Sports provision includes athletics, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, and dance, while extracurricular clubs cover eco club, drama, and choir. The school’s SEND provisions are extensive, supporting children with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses, collected between September 2024 and September 2025, were overwhelmingly positive: 94% of the 16 respondents would recommend the school, and 100% agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy and feels safe. However, a quarter of parents disagreed that the school makes them aware of what their child will learn, and 19% disagreed that the school lets them know how their child is doing. This school may suit families who value a strong pastoral environment and a wide range of SEND support, particularly those with younger children who can benefit from the nursery provision.

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