Woodthorpe CofE Primary School

About Woodthorpe CofE Primary School

Woodthorpe CofE Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across both its most recent inspections, including an ungraded visit in 2023 that confirmed the school remains Good. The single most telling exam metric for this small Church of England primary in Chesterfield is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which stands at 45%. That figure is notably below the Derbyshire local authority average of 59%, placing Woodthorpe 196th out of 353 primary schools of the same type in the county. In the Chesterfield local area specifically, the school ranks 22nd out of 25 primaries on this measure, putting it in the bottom 88th percentile locally. Nationally, it sits in the bottom 85th percentile among all state primaries. The school’s ranking score of 45 confirms it falls in the bottom 50 tier nationally.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the picture is mixed. In maths, 73% of pupils met the expected standard and the average score was 104, which is broadly in line with the national average. Reading saw 59% reach the expected standard with an average score of 103. Writing fared better, with 77% meeting expectations. However, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in all three subjects is low: just 5% reached the higher benchmark in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with 14% in maths alone, 18% in reading and 9% in writing. The school’s Progress 8 scores for reading, writing and maths are all missing from the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. The Ofsted report from 2014 rated leadership and management as Good, and the early years provision at that time was judged as Requires Improvement.

Woodthorpe is a small school with 139 pupils against a capacity of 119, making it oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 38 applications for 19 places, and all 19 first-preference applicants were offered a spot. The school serves a community with above-average disadvantage, as 40.3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Facilities include a sensory room, forest school, chapel, sports hall, playing fields and an ICT suite. Sports on offer include football, rounders, cricket, tennis and cross country, while clubs cover gardening, art and coding. The school provides for a wide range of special educational needs, including autistic spectrum disorder, speech, language and communication needs, social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and moderate or severe learning difficulties. This is a school that suits families who value a Church of England ethos and a broad set of extracurricular opportunities, but who are realistic about academic outcomes that sit below the local average.

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