Dene House Primary School

Dene House Primary School is a highly welcoming and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, cared for and a strong sense of belonging. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors found the school performing securely overall, with personal development and wellbeing a standout strength: leaders have built a tailored programme, strong pupil voice, effective wellbeing support and a wide enrichment offer that removes barriers to participation. Pupils are respectful, tolerant and well prepared for life in their community and beyond. Achievement is broadly in line with national expectations by the end of key stage 2, including for the high proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, and disadvantaged pupils often attain above their national peers. Teaching is generally effective, phonics is strong, and early years provides a positive start. Leaders have a clear vision, know the school well, and governance and staff support are effective. The school is part of Tudhoe Learning Trust and serves a context with well-above-average free school meal eligibility and above-average SEN support. The main areas for further work are attendance, which remains below national averages with high persistent absence although improving; ensuring pupils consistently develop depth of knowledge across the wider curriculum; strengthening older pupils' handwriting fluency; and continuing to develop early years practice so children have detailed understanding across all seven areas of learning.

Strengths

• Highly effective, tailored personal development programme
• Meaningful pupil leadership and school council voice
• Strong pupil knowledge of diversity, tolerance and fundamental British values
• Highly effective wellbeing support, including in-school counselling and swift external referrals
• Wide enrichment and extracurricular offer with barriers to participation removed
• Pupils are respectful, tolerant, compassionate and well prepared for life beyond school
• Pupils achieve broadly in line with national expectations by the end of key stage 2
• Effective support helps pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, make rapid progress
• Strong foundations in early years and key stage 1
• High-standard phonics teaching with frequent practice
• Effective mathematics teaching with clear vocabulary modelling and concrete resources
• Thorough attendance procedures and improving attendance over time
• Pupils behave well, feel a sense of belonging and report feeling safe
• Bullying is dealt with swiftly and effectively
• Clear curriculum design with teachers knowing what pupils need to learn
• Effective teacher modelling, feedback and handling of misconceptions
• Open, welcoming inclusion culture with early identification and stepped support
• Warm welcome and full inclusion for pupils joining mid-year, including from other countries
• Disadvantaged pupils attain above disadvantaged peers nationally by the end of key stage 2
• Clear leadership vision and effective governance support and challenge
• Staff feel valued and benefit from ongoing training

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance remains below national averages and persistent absence is high.
• Attendance improvements need to be sustained, especially for pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those absent most often.
• A small proportion of pupils do not remember wider curriculum content in as much depth.
• Some older pupils' handwriting prevents them from writing as fluently as they should.
• Early years practice needs further strengthening so children develop detailed understanding across all seven areas of learning.

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 Dene House Primary School attended 92.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 24.2% 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, 1.3% of pupils at Dene House 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 Dene House Primary School had 18.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.5% 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, 25.4% of pupils at Dene House Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.3% 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 2024–25 Dene House Primary School received £7,507 and spent £7,579 for each of its 301 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £200,000 (£664 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Tudhoe Learning Trust, income was £7,731 and spending £7,710 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Peterlee · County Durham local authority: places and applications

Dene House Primary School is part of Tudhoe Learning Trust, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Acre Rigg Academy Peterlee
• South Hetton Primary Durham
• Tudhoe Colliery Primary School Spennymoor
• Victoria Lane Academy Bishop Auckland
• Stephenson Way Academy and Nursery School Newton Aycliffe
• Shield Row Primary School Stanley

What is Dene House Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Dene House Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Dene House Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Dene House Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Dene House Primary School have?

Dene House Primary School has 303 pupils on roll.

What age range does Dene House Primary School cover?

Dene House Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

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

In 2025, 59% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Dene House Primary School?

Dene House Primary School is at Manor Way, Peterlee, County Durham, SR8 5RL.