St John's CofE Primary School

About St John's CofE Primary School

St John's CofE Primary School sits within the Bradford local authority, where it ranks 44th out of 153 primary schools based on the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. That places it comfortably in the top third of schools locally, though it sits behind the three top-performing peers in the area: All Saints' CofE Primary School, Harden Primary School and Copthorne Primary School. Among Bradford's 157 state primary schools, only 15 currently hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, and St John's is one of them. The school's most recent graded inspection, in November 2023, awarded it Outstanding across every single category — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. That represents a notable improvement on its previous inspection in 2010, where early years provision was rated as Requires Improvement. The school is led by headteacher Andrew Knight and serves 466 pupils aged 3 to 11, with a capacity of 492.

Academically, St John's delivers solid results at Key Stage 2. In the 2023/24 assessments, 68% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — well above the Bradford local authority average of 59%. The school's score of 68 on this metric places it in the top 50 nationally among primary schools. Looking at individual subjects, 81% of pupils reached the expected standard in maths, with an average scaled score of 107, while 75% did so in reading (average score 106) and 78% in writing. At the higher standard, 19% of pupils achieved greater depth across all three subjects, with maths and reading both seeing 39% of pupils reaching that higher threshold, and writing at 29%. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points, but the attainment figures themselves are consistently above the local norm.

The school is clearly popular with local families. For entry in 2025/26, St John's received 129 applications for 57 places, making it oversubscribed with a ratio of 2.26 applicants per place. Of the 74 first-preference applications, 56 received offers. The school has a Church of England religious character and offers nursery provision for younger children. Facilities include a library, forest school, outdoor playground, playing fields, ICT suite and a chapel. Sports provision covers tennis, cricket, rounders, netball, football, athletics and swimming, while clubs include book club, gardening, chess and science club. The school also publishes a broad range of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. This is a school that suits families looking for strong academic outcomes within a faith-based setting, and who are prepared to navigate a competitive admissions process.

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