Poppleton Road Primary School

About Poppleton Road Primary School

Poppleton Road Primary School is a state-funded, mixed primary in York that currently educates 391 pupils against a capacity of 446, meaning it is not yet full but clearly in demand. The school’s free school meal rate sits at 24.6%, notably higher than the national primary average, indicating a significant proportion of pupils from less advantaged backgrounds. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 112 applications for 53 places, with 52 of those going to first-preference families, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.11. That suggests strong local confidence, even if the school isn’t the most selective in the area. Headteacher Ellie Dawson leads a mixed-gender, non-religious school with nursery provision, and the most recent Ofsted inspection in 2018 rated it Good overall, a marked improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2012. The school has held a Good rating across its two most recent inspections, with leadership and management also judged Good.

Academically, Poppleton Road’s Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 show 53% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is below the York local authority average of 62%. In the local rankings, the school sits 34th out of 47 primary schools, placing it in the bottom half of the authority. Nationally, it ranks in the 72nd percentile, meaning roughly 28% of schools perform worse on this measure. Breaking the scores down, 72% of pupils met the expected standard in reading and 66% in writing, while 71% did so in maths. The average scaled scores for reading and maths both sit at 105, exactly in line with the national average. Higher-standard attainment is more modest: 9% achieved the higher benchmark across all three subjects, with 28% hitting it in reading, 19% in writing and 17% in maths. Progress scores are not available, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds relative to starting points.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a sports hall, ICT suite, sensory room, library and chapel, plus sports like dance, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, rounders and netball. Clubs include gardening, book club, science club and coding. For families with children who have additional needs, the SEND provision is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Acomb Primary School, just one kilometre away, which may be a consideration for some parents. Poppleton Road is a good fit for families who want a well-subscribed local primary with strong SEND support and a broad extracurricular offer, but who are comfortable with below-average KS2 outcomes compared with the York average.

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