Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy

About Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy

Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy in Leicester was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, a step down from the Outstanding grade it held at its previous inspection in 2011. The inspection report rated every category as Good, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision. The most telling academic metric for this primary school is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2. In the 2023/24 results, 67% of Year 6 pupils hit that combined benchmark, which is five percentage points above the Leicester local authority average of 62%. That places Willowbrook 27th out of 68 primary schools in the city, putting it comfortably in the top half of Leicester primaries. Nationally, the school sits in the 39th percentile among all state primaries, a solidly mid-table performance that reflects consistent rather than exceptional outcomes.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the school’s strongest individual subject was maths, where 75% of pupils met the expected standard and 31% achieved a higher standard. Reading and writing both saw 70% and 75% reaching the expected level respectively, though the proportion reaching the higher standard in writing was just 13%, and in reading 23%. The average scaled scores in reading and maths were both 104, exactly in line with the national average. The school does not publish progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to say how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points. Ofsted noted that behaviour and attitudes are Good, and the school has a relatively high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 35%, which is well above the national average. This context matters when interpreting the results, as the school is serving a more disadvantaged intake than many of its peers.

Willowbrook Mead is oversubscribed, with 34 first-preference applications for 35 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, and 65 total applications giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.86. The school has a nursery provision for children from age three and runs a range of clubs including gardening, art, coding, eco club and chess. Sports on offer include football, cricket, dance and swimming, and facilities include a gymnasium, ICT suite, sports hall, music rooms and a chapel. The school has a particularly strong SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and a resourced provision. This makes it a strong option for families whose children need additional support. For families prioritising academic outcomes, the school sits just outside Leicester’s top 25 primaries, but its above-average KS2 results and strong SEND support make it a reliable choice for a broad range of children.

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