Priestsic Primary and Nursery School

About Priestsic Primary and Nursery School

Priestsic Primary and Nursery School in Ashfield is a state-funded mixed primary for ages 3 to 11 that is currently oversubscribed, with 108 applications for 46 places in the 2025/26 admissions round. That works out at 2.35 applications per place, and 45 of those were first-preference offers, suggesting strong local demand. The school is running close to its capacity of 420 pupils, with 426 on roll, and its intake includes a notably high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals: 43.3 per cent. That is well above the national average for primary schools, which sits around 23 to 24 per cent, and it gives a clear indication of the community Priestsic serves. The headteacher is Catherine Hewitt, and the school has no religious character. It also has a nursery provision, so children can join before Reception.

Academically, Priestsic was rated Good by Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection in July 2022, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2018. All five inspected categories — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision — were judged Good. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 58 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is just below the Nottinghamshire local authority average of 61 per cent. Individual subject scores were more mixed: 70 per cent met the expected standard in writing, 68 per cent in maths, and 65 per cent in reading. At the higher standard, 23 per cent achieved it in reading and 15 per cent in maths, but no pupils reached the higher threshold in writing or in the combined measure. Average scaled scores were 103 in both reading and maths, exactly in line with the national average of 100-103.

The school offers a solid range of facilities, including a library, sports hall, playing fields, music rooms, a sensory room, an ICT suite, and a forest school area. Sports on offer include swimming, football, tennis, dance, rounders and netball, and there are clubs such as gardening, book club, chess, coding and eco club. For SEND, Priestsic lists provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, social, emotional and mental health needs, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school ranks 141st out of 286 primary schools in Nottinghamshire on the KS2 expected standard measure, placing it in the bottom half of the local authority. For families in Ashfield, this is a well-subscribed community school that has improved its Ofsted rating and serves a high-deprivation intake, with a broad set of facilities and SEND support.

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