Scholes (Holmfirth) Junior & Infant School

About Scholes (Holmfirth) Junior & Infant School

Scholes (Holmfirth) Junior & Infant School sits in a local authority where the average Key Stage 2 score for primary schools is 60, but the school itself does not publish its own KS2 results in the available data, making a direct academic comparison impossible. What is clear from the local context is that Kirklees has 144 primary schools, only eight of which hold an Outstanding Ofsted rating, and the nearest one to Scholes is New Mill Junior School, 1.6 km away. Scholes itself was rated Requires Improvement in its most recent graded inspection in March 2022, a rating it also held in its previous inspection in July 2018. The school has 184 pupils against a capacity of 222, and 21.2 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average for primary schools. The headteacher is Lisa Pugh.

The 2022 Ofsted report gives a mixed picture. Behaviour and attitudes were rated Good, which is the only area above the overall Requires Improvement grade. Quality of education, personal development, and leadership and management were all judged to require improvement, as was the early years provision. The previous inspection in 2018 also gave an overall Requires Improvement rating, with leadership and management and overall effectiveness both scoring 3, and early years provision scoring 2 (the equivalent of Good). So while the school has held a consistent overall rating, the most recent inspection shows a slight decline in early years provision, which dropped from Good to Requires Improvement. Without published KS2 SATs results or a Progress 8 score for this primary phase, parents cannot benchmark academic outcomes against the LA average of 60, but the Ofsted judgement suggests the school is still working on core teaching and curriculum quality.

The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 40 applications for 12 places, with 10 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.33. Facilities include a sports hall, playing fields, an ICT suite, a library, music rooms, art studios, a sensory room, and a chapel. Sports offered are swimming, netball, dance, and cricket, and clubs include film, choir, coding, and science club. SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties (dyslexia), moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a small village primary in Holmfirth that clearly attracts strong local demand despite its Requires Improvement rating, and it may suit families who prioritise a broad range of facilities and SEND support over top-tier academic outcomes.

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