Birkwood Primary School

Birkwood Primary School is a good school where pupils are happy, safe and well supported. Inspectors found strong provision across the curriculum, behaviour, personal development, leadership and early years, with pupils achieving well and benefiting from a broad, ambitious education. The school places a clear priority on reading, supports pupils with SEND effectively, and has developed a positive culture where pupils behave well and feel listened to. The school’s personal development offer is a notable strength, helping pupils understand equality, respect, healthy relationships and how to manage risk. Governors are dedicated and supportive, staff value recent workload reductions, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Parents are positive about the support their children receive, including for vulnerable pupils. The main area for improvement is in early years, where the curriculum does not yet clearly identify the essential knowledge children should learn in some areas of learning. This sometimes means activities are not well matched to intended learning, which can hinder children from building knowledge securely. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and its first section 5 inspection since 2014, when it was judged outstanding; under current arrangements, no overall effectiveness grade is awarded.

Strengths

• Reading is a clear priority, with children learning sounds quickly and older pupils supported to build fluency and stamina.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with clearly identified knowledge and effective design to build on prior learning.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified quickly and supported well, including those with complex needs.
• Behaviour is good, adults apply the behaviour policy consistently, and pupils feel safe and respected.
• Personal development is strong, helping pupils understand equality, healthy relationships, health and well-being, and respect for others.
• The extended curriculum offers sports, cooking, trips and leadership roles that enrich pupils’ experiences.
• Governors are dedicated, appropriately support and challenge leaders, and staff appreciate actions to reduce workload.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some early years areas of learning, the curriculum does not clearly identify the essential knowledge children should learn.
• Early years activity choices are sometimes not well matched to the intended learning, hindering children from building knowledge securely.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Birkwood Primary School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.5% of pupils at Birkwood Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Birkwood Primary School had 27.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 27.4% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 11.8% of pupils at Birkwood Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Birkwood Primary School received £6,983 and spent £6,548 for each of its 416 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £190,000 (£457 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Birkwood Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Birkwood Primary School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Birkwood Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Birkwood Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Birkwood Primary School have?

Birkwood Primary School has 432 pupils on roll.

What age range does Birkwood Primary School cover?

Birkwood Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Birkwood Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 61% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Birkwood Primary School?

Birkwood Primary School is at Darfield Road, Cudworth, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S72 8HG.