Barnes Junior School

Barnes Junior School continues to maintain a good standard of education, providing a welcoming and supportive environment where pupils thrive. The school is noted for its effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, ensuring their full inclusion in school life and helping them achieve well. Staff are dedicated and foster positive relationships with pupils, contributing to a safe and respectful atmosphere. However, some areas of the curriculum, particularly in foundation subjects like art and design, need further development to ensure that all pupils can build on their knowledge systematically.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy a wide range of extracurricular activities and clubs.
• Strong support for pupils with SEND, promoting their inclusion and achievement.
• Effective leadership prioritizing pupil well-being and a caring environment.
• High expectations from staff lead to positive pupil attitudes towards learning.
• Clear focus on developing fluency in reading and mathematics.

Areas for Improvement

• In some foundation subjects, knowledge progression is not clearly defined.
• Methods for listening to pupils read do not promote independent decoding effectively.
• Younger pupils lack sufficient opportunities to develop problem-solving and reasoning skills.

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 Barnes Junior School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.3% 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, 1.1% of pupils at Barnes Junior 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 Barnes Junior School had 20.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.2% 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, 13.5% of pupils at Barnes Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.6% 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 Barnes Junior School received £7,787 and spent £7,454 for each of its 341 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £356,000 (£1,044 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 Sunderland · Sunderland local authority: places and applications

What is Barnes Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Barnes Junior School is Good, from an inspection in July 2023.

When was Barnes Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Barnes Junior School was last inspected in July 2023.

How many pupils does Barnes Junior School have?

Barnes Junior School has 341 pupils on roll.

What age range does Barnes Junior School cover?

Barnes Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Barnes Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 38% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Barnes Junior School?

Barnes Junior School is at Mount Road, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR4 7QF.