Willow Wood Community Primary School

Willow Wood Community Primary School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating in most areas, including the quality of education, personal development, and leadership. The school excels in fostering a positive atmosphere where pupils feel safe and valued, and staff have established high expectations for behavior and academic achievement. Notable strengths include strong support for students with special educational needs and a commitment to improving literacy and mathematics skills among all pupils. However, the school recognizes the need to enhance reading support for some pupils who do not practice at home, which could impact their progression into secondary education.

Strengths

• Pupils exhibit exceptional behavior and attitudes toward learning.
• Leaders create an inspiring educational environment with high expectations.
• Strong support for pupils with SEND, helping them to achieve well.
• Effective phonics program implemented in early years.
• A well-designed curriculum encourages knowledge retention across subjects.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils do not read at home, hindering their full development as readers.

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 Willow Wood Community Primary School attended 93.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.1% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Willow Wood Community 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 Willow Wood Community Primary School had 19.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 14.6% 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, 26.6% of pupils at Willow Wood Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% 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 Willow Wood Community Primary School received £8,916 and spent £8,444 for each of its 279 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £423,000 (£1,516 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 Willow Wood Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Willow Wood Community Primary School is Good, from an inspection in July 2023.

When was Willow Wood Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Willow Wood Community Primary School was last inspected in July 2023.

How many pupils does Willow Wood Community Primary School have?

Willow Wood Community Primary School has 290 pupils on roll.

What age range does Willow Wood Community Primary School cover?

Willow Wood Community Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Willow Wood Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 75% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Willow Wood Community Primary School?

Willow Wood Community Primary School is at Redcar Road, Red House, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 5AU.