Accrington Woodnook Primary School

Accrington Woodnook Primary School is a community primary school inspected in March 2025. The quality of education requires improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision are good. The school was previously judged good and, under current arrangements, does not receive an overall effectiveness grade. Pupils are described as happy, well behaved and proud of the school’s values, and the early years provision is a notable strength. The school has worked hard since its last inspection to improve curriculum, attendance and behaviour. Early reading and phonics are strengths, support for pupils with SEND and those learning English as an additional language is effective, and pupils benefit from a wide range of extracurricular activities and trips. Attendance has improved markedly, safeguarding is effective, and governance and staff morale are strong. However, the curriculum in many Year 1 to Year 6 subjects is newly developed and not yet securely embedded. In some subjects, key knowledge is not clearly defined, pupils have gaps in wider curriculum knowledge, and published 2024 outcomes in phonics, reading, writing and mathematics were below average. The new writing curriculum is at an early stage, and staff do not consistently address pupils’ errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling, so some pupils do not achieve as well as they could.

Strengths

• Pupils behave well and contribute to a calm, happy and purposeful atmosphere.
• The school’s values of friendship, aspiration, independence and respect are evident from the early years.
• Early years provision offers a rich curriculum that supports children to achieve well from their starting points.
• The school provides effective support for pupils learning English as an additional language.
• The needs of pupils with SEND are swiftly identified and consistently met.
• The phonics programme helps pupils learn new sounds quickly and staff support those needing extra help with reading.
• Pupils enjoy reading daily and have access to the school library.
• Attendance has improved demonstrably, with persistent absence reduced in recent years.
• Pupils access a wide range of extracurricular activities, trips and visitors.
• Pupils take on roles and responsibilities and develop a secure understanding of fundamental British values.
• Governance is effective, staff morale is high, and leaders consider staff workload.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, the key knowledge pupils should know and remember is not clearly defined.
• Curriculum implementation in many subjects is new and still being embedded, so pupils do not learn as well as they should.
• Pupils have gaps in wider curriculum knowledge that the school has not yet closed.
• The new writing curriculum is in its early stages and is not fully developed.
• There is variability in how well pupils develop grammar, punctuation and spelling, and staff do not consistently address pupils’ errors.
• Published 2024 results were below average in phonics, reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education across wider curriculum subjects as they should be.

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 Accrington Woodnook Primary School attended 92.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 24.1% 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, 3.7% of pupils at Accrington Woodnook Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Accrington Woodnook Primary School had 18.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.4% 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, 10.9% of pupils at Accrington Woodnook Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.7% 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 Accrington Woodnook Primary School received £8,242 and spent £7,878 for each of its 220 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £76,000 (£345 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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All schools in Accrington · Lancashire local authority: places and applications

What is Accrington Woodnook Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Accrington Woodnook Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Accrington Woodnook Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Accrington Woodnook Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Accrington Woodnook Primary School have?

Accrington Woodnook Primary School has 220 pupils on roll.

What age range does Accrington Woodnook Primary School cover?

Accrington Woodnook Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 48% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Accrington Woodnook Primary School?

Accrington Woodnook Primary School is at Hudson Street, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 2HS.