High Crags Primary Leadership Academy

About High Crags Primary Leadership Academy

High Crags Primary Leadership Academy in Bradford has been rated Good in its most recent graded inspection, a significant turnaround from its previous Inadequate rating in 2015. The school’s leadership and management are also rated Good, and its early years provision has been judged Outstanding. The most telling exam metric comes from Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year: 69% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure sits comfortably above the Bradford local authority average of 59%, placing the school 40th out of 153 primary schools in the area and in the top 50% nationally. This is a school that has clearly improved its academic standing under headteacher Helen Ray.

Digging deeper into the KS2 results, the school performs particularly well in reading, where 86% of pupils reached the expected standard and 27% achieved a higher standard. In writing, 81% met expectations, and in maths the figure was 78%. Average scores of 106 in reading and 104 in maths are both above the national benchmark of 100. However, only 7% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, which suggests that while most children are solidly on track, stretching the highest achievers remains a work in progress. The school has no published progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to compare how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points. Still, the overall picture is one of consistent, above-average attainment in a Bradford context.

The school is oversubscribed: for 33 places in 2025/26, it received 57 applications, with 32 first-preference offers made from 33 first-preference applications. That oversubscription ratio of 1.73 reflects its growing reputation. Facilities include a library, art studios, music rooms, a forest school and a chapel. Sports on offer include swimming, football, gymnastics, athletics and tennis, and there are clubs for film, coding, drama and gardening. SEND provision is broad, covering moderate learning difficulty, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder and a resourced provision. With a nursery on site and a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals (44.3%), this is a school that serves a diverse community and has built strong academic outcomes from a challenging starting point.

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