Knowleswood Primary School

About Knowleswood Primary School

Knowleswood Primary School’s headline metrics sit noticeably below the Bradford local authority average for primary schools. While the LA average for pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined (RWM) is 59%, Knowleswood’s figure is 41%. That gap of 18 percentage points places the school 136th out of 157 primary schools in Bradford, putting it in the bottom 50% nationally. The school’s ranking score of 41 is well behind the top local peers like All Saints’ CofE Primary School (91) and Harden Primary School (87). On the plus side, the school is heavily oversubscribed — 72 applications for 37 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, with 36 first-preference offers — suggesting strong local demand despite the academic picture.

A closer look at the 2023/24 KS2 results shows a mixed picture across individual subjects. In writing, 62% of pupils met the expected standard, which is a solid showing, and in maths it was 59% — exactly in line with the LA average. Reading was lower at 50%, and the proportion reaching the higher standard across all three subjects was just 2%. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2019, the school was rated Requires Improvement overall, with leadership and management, early years provision and behaviour all judged to require improvement. The previous inspection in 2016 also rated the school Requires Improvement, so there has been no change in the overall rating across the two inspections.

Knowleswood is a large primary with 415 pupils against a capacity of 420, and it serves a community with high levels of disadvantage — 69.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school offers a nursery provision and a broad range of facilities including a sensory room, art studios, library, playing fields and a sports hall. Sports on offer include gymnastics, football, cricket, tennis, rounders, cross country and netball, and there are clubs for chess, book club, gardening, choir and coding. The SEND provision is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication issues, hearing and visual impairments, and physical disability. This is a school that will suit families who value a strong pastoral and SEND offer and a wide extracurricular programme, but who are aware that academic outcomes are currently below the local average and that the school is working through an Ofsted Requires Improvement judgement.

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