Willoughby Road Primary Academy

About Willoughby Road Primary Academy

Willoughby Road Primary Academy is a state-funded mixed primary school in North Lincolnshire, serving children aged 3 to 11 under headteacher Abby Blades-Baker. In the local authority’s primary school rankings, it sits at 30th out of 51 schools, placing it in the bottom half of the table. Its top-performing neighbours include Winteringham Primary School, South Ferriby Primary School, and St Mary’s Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy in Brigg, all of which score higher on the same ranking metric. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in April 2025, confirmed that standards are being maintained, and it retains its overall Good rating. That’s a notable improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2019, when it was rated Requires Improvement. The leadership and management, as well as early years provision, were both judged Good in that 2019 inspection, and the school has held onto that progress since.

Academically, the school’s Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 year show that 62% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which matches the North Lincolnshire local authority average of 62%. However, only 4% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, which is low. In individual subjects, reading and maths both had an average scaled score of 105, while 79% of pupils met the expected standard in reading and 75% in maths. Writing was slightly lower, with 72% reaching the expected level. Nationally, the school ranks 7,234th out of 13,686 primary schools, placing it around the 53rd percentile. In Yorkshire and the Humber, it sits at 760th out of 1,506 schools. The school’s Progress 8 scores are not available, so it’s hard to judge how much value it adds beyond raw attainment.

The school has a capacity of 376 but currently has 283 pupils on roll, leaving some spare places. It was oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, with 34 applications for 23 places and 22 first-preference offers made. A relatively high 42.6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is well above the national average. Facilities include a gymnasium, outdoor playground, dining hall, sensory room, ICT suite, music rooms and a chapel. Sports on offer include dance, athletics, swimming, netball, tennis, cross country and cricket, while clubs range from coding and choir to art, film, chess and eco club. The school has a nursery provision and supports a wide range of SEND needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language difficulties, physical disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. It’s a solid, improving local option for families who want a Good-rated school with strong SEND support and a broad extracurricular offer.

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