Knaresborough St John's Church of England Primary School

About Knaresborough St John's Church of England Primary School

Knaresborough St John's Church of England Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across both its most recent inspections. The school was last inspected in 2024, and the report highlights a particular strength in early years provision, which was rated Outstanding. For academic outcomes at Key Stage 2, the most telling metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. Here, 67% of pupils achieved this benchmark in the 2023/24 academic year, placing the school above the North Yorkshire local authority average of 60%. That puts St John's in the top half of primary schools nationally, ranking 78th out of 223 similar schools in the county. It's a solid, above-average performance that suggests the school is delivering consistent results for its pupils.

Digging into the individual subject scores, the picture is similarly encouraging. In reading, 83% of pupils met the expected standard, with an average scaled score of 105, while in writing 85% achieved the expected level. Maths saw 78% reach the expected standard, with an average score of 104. At the higher standard, 24% of pupils achieved greater depth in reading and maths respectively, and 20% did so in writing. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available in the data, but the attainment figures alone show a school performing comfortably above the local norm. Ofsted's breakdown gives a Good rating across all key areas — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management — with only early years breaking into Outstanding territory. This consistency across the board suggests a well-run school where most children are making solid progress.

The school is a Church of England primary with a capacity of 390, currently housing 281 pupils, so there is some room to grow. It is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 116 applications for 41 places, with 36 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.83. Facilities include a Forest School, sensory room, music rooms, art studios, and a chapel, alongside playing fields and an ICT suite. Sports on offer include netball, cross country, tennis and dance, with clubs such as book club, choir, chess and coding. The school supports a range of SEND needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language needs, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families looking for a strong academic foundation within a Church of England setting, with good SEND support and a broad extracurricular offer.

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