Gunnerside Methodist Primary School

About Gunnerside Methodist Primary School

Gunnerside Methodist Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement judgement. The school’s most recent graded inspection took place in 2012, and a subsequent ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed it remains Good. Leadership and management were also rated Good. With just 23 pupils on roll against a capacity of 51, this is a very small school where class sizes are inevitably tiny. The school serves a rural community in North Yorkshire and has a Methodist religious character. Its most informative exam metric is the local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment, which sits at 60. While individual school-level KS2 results are not available in the data, the LA average provides a useful benchmark for parents comparing local primary options.

The school’s academic context is shaped by its size and intake. Over a fifth of pupils (21.7%) are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average for primary schools. The school does not publish its own Progress 8 or KS2 SATs scores in the available data, so parents will need to request these directly from the school or check the DfE performance tables. What is clear is that the school has moved from a Requires Improvement rating to Good, suggesting that teaching and outcomes have strengthened over time. In the local authority, 16 out of 292 primary schools hold an Outstanding rating, so Gunnerside is in the majority of Good-rated schools. The school does not have a sixth form or nursery provision, focusing solely on pupils aged 4 to 11.

Facilities include a Forest School, sensory room, chapel, art studios, and a library, which are generous for a school of this size. Sports on offer include athletics, swimming, netball, dance, and cricket, and there are clubs for choir, art, and drama. The school has a specific SEND provision for dyslexia. Admissions data for 2025/26 shows the school is oversubscribed: it received 13 applications for 7 places, with 6 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.86. This suggests strong local demand despite the small roll. Gunnerside will suit families who value a close-knit, rural primary with a Methodist ethos, strong outdoor learning through Forest School, and a supportive environment for children with specific learning difficulties. Its small size means children receive a lot of individual attention, but parents should check current KS2 outcomes directly to ensure academic progress aligns with their expectations.

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