Bankside Primary School

Bankside Primary School is a welcoming, friendly and safe place where strong staff-pupil relationships help pupils, including many who join at different points in the year, settle quickly. Behaviour has improved markedly: expectations are clear, incidents have reduced, and pupils are calm and play well together, although engagement sometimes dips when work is too easy or too difficult. The school is in a significant period of change under newly established leadership, with a broad and ambitious curriculum and improved reading and phonics, but the quality of education remains uneven.

Strengths

• Welcoming, friendly and safe school environment
• Strong relationships between staff and pupils
• Clear transition processes, including Birth to Bankside, help children settle quickly
• Mid-year arrivals are welcomed by peers and soon make friends
• Behaviour has improved significantly, with clear expectations and calm corridors
• Pupils play well together and behave well in class
• Broad and ambitious curriculum is appropriately sequenced
• Rainbow Room provides bespoke support that meets individual SEND needs well
• Pupils with SEND actively participate in lessons
• Consistent phonics teaching and matched reading books build fluency and accuracy
• Diverse book selection supports pupils' love of reading
• Early years staff build strong relationships that help children become confident and independent
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Rigorous attendance processes are beginning to improve attendance and punctuality

Areas for Improvement

• National test achievement has been too low in recent years
• Curriculum does not precisely identify key knowledge in less developed subjects
• Teachers do not consistently explain new concepts clearly and sometimes give too much information
• SEND support steps are not precise enough to evaluate pupil progress
• Early years staff do not consistently extend children's learning
• Pupils' understanding of fundamental British values and protected characteristics is limited
• Absence rates have been significantly above national figures and some pupils still attend too little
• Leaders do not consistently check whether improvement actions are having the intended impact
• Governance lacks clear systems to monitor impact, including on staff workload and well-being
• Some staff are concerned about workload
• Quality of education varies across subjects

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 Bankside Primary School attended 91.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 35.0% 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, 0.7% of pupils at Bankside 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 Bankside Primary School had 21.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 1.8% 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, 47.5% of pupils at Bankside Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.4% 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 Bankside Primary School received £8,610 and spent £8,801 for each of its 632 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £65,000 (£102 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Leeds · Leeds local authority: places and applications

Bankside Primary School is part of Leeds Learning Alliance, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Carr Manor Community School Leeds
• Wetherby High School Wetherby

What is Bankside Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bankside Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Bankside Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Bankside Primary School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Bankside Primary School have?

Bankside Primary School has 676 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bankside Primary School cover?

Bankside Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 31% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Bankside Primary School?

Bankside Primary School is at Shepherds Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 5AW.