Etherley Lane Primary School

Etherley Lane Primary School is performing well, maintaining a 'Good' rating across all inspected areas including the quality of education, behavior and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school has a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and are encouraged to learn enthusiastically. With a curriculum that is well-planned in many subjects, leaders are prioritizing improvements in areas like history and geography to ensure all subjects are effectively sequenced for comprehensive learning.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy coming to school and find learning interesting and fun.
• High expectations from leaders and teachers foster a culture of ambition for all students.
• The school provides effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Strong focus on early reading and mathematics helps pupils achieve well.
• Pupils demonstrate good behavior and positive attitudes towards learning.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum plans for some foundation subjects, such as history and geography, are not well developed.
• Teachers' subject knowledge in foundation subjects is less developed compared to early reading and mathematics.

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 Etherley Lane Primary School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.9% 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, 1.0% of pupils at Etherley Lane 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 Etherley Lane Primary School had 17.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.6% 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, 23.7% of pupils at Etherley Lane Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.3% 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 Etherley Lane Primary School received £9,591 and spent £9,544 for each of its 190 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £385,000 (£2,029 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 Bishop Auckland · County Durham local authority: places and applications

What is Etherley Lane Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Etherley Lane Primary School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Etherley Lane Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Etherley Lane Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Etherley Lane Primary School have?

Etherley Lane Primary School has 190 pupils on roll.

What age range does Etherley Lane Primary School cover?

Etherley Lane Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 65% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Etherley Lane Primary School?

Etherley Lane Primary School is at Clarence Gardens, Etherley Lane, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL14 7RB.