Harwood Park Primary School

About Harwood Park Primary School

Harwood Park Primary School sits in the bottom half of Rochdale primary schools when it comes to the key measure of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2. With 52% of children hitting that benchmark, the school falls six percentage points short of the local authority average of 58%. That gap is worth noting, especially given that the school serves a community where half of its 317 pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. The school’s ranking of 35th out of 52 primaries in Rochdale places it in the bottom 50% locally, and nationally it sits in the 75th percentile, meaning roughly a quarter of primary schools in England perform worse on this metric. So while the headline figure is below the LA norm, it is not an outlier — many schools in similar contexts see comparable results.

The picture becomes more nuanced when you look at the full spread of outcomes. In maths, 63% of pupils reached the expected standard and 15% achieved the higher standard, while in reading the figures were 58% and 10% respectively. Writing saw 65% at expected and just 6% at the higher level. The average scaled scores in reading and maths both sit at 101, exactly the national average. Only 2% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, which is low. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in February 2024 awarded a Good rating across the board — a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement judgement in 2019. All five graded areas, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management, were rated Good. The early years provision was also rated Good, which is relevant given the school offers nursery provision for children from age three.

Harwood Park is a popular school in the area, receiving 78 applications for just 26 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, with 23 of those offers going to first-preference families. That oversubscription ratio of three to one suggests strong local demand. The school has capacity for 420 pupils but currently enrols 317, so there is room to grow. Facilities include a library, dining hall, sensory room, music rooms and a chapel. Sports on offer include swimming, cricket, football and gymnastics, and there are clubs for eco, chess and coding. The school’s SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. This is a school that works hard to support a diverse range of needs, and its improvement journey from Requires Improvement to Good suggests leadership under headteacher Amanda Davies is moving in the right direction.

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