Bader Primary School

Bader Primary is a friendly, inclusive school where pupils behave well, feel safe and benefit from a highly regarded personal development programme. The school’s values, pastoral support and wide enrichment offer are notable strengths, helping pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, build confidence and resilience. Attendance has improved strongly and is now in line with national averages despite significant barriers, while pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are positive and discrimination or bullying are rare. The curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious, with a clear focus on reading, phonics and essential knowledge. Pupils generally achieve close to national levels, disadvantaged pupils achieve at a similar level to disadvantaged pupils nationally, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well from their starting points. Early years provision is suitable and well supported by strong reading and parental partnership work, though number skills and high-quality talk are not always developed as purposefully as they could be. The main area for further development is teaching adaptation: staff do not always adjust teaching effectively enough to deepen learning for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders’ monitoring of some improvement actions is also not consistently rigorous, which can slow refinement. The school is part of the Spark Education Trust following a trust merger and serves a community with well-above-average free school meals eligibility; safeguarding standards are met.

Strengths

• High-quality personal development programme tailored to the school’s context, including PSHE and enrichment.
• Strong values, pastoral support and character development that build pupils’ confidence and resilience.
• Pupils behave well, show kindness and respect, and bullying is rare and dealt with effectively.
• Attendance has improved over time and is now in line with national averages despite significant barriers.
• Broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum with coherent sequencing across subjects.
• Strong early reading and phonics provision, with quick support for pupils who need extra help.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well from their individual starting points.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve at a similar level to disadvantaged pupils nationally, with mathematics strengths including above-average multiplication tables check results.
• Inclusive practices, including breakfast for all pupils and sensitive uniform expectations, help pupils feel valued.
• Positive staff culture with manageable workload, effective professional learning and trust-wide subject networks.
• Trustees and local governors provide effective strategic direction and support.
• A wide range of enrichment, trips and leadership roles prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching adaptations are not consistently effective in promoting and deepening pupils’ learning, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders’ monitoring and evaluation of some improvement actions are not rigorous enough, reducing how quickly strategies are adjusted and refined.
• Early years provision is occasionally not purposeful enough in developing children’s number skills or engaging them in high-quality talk.

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 Bader Primary School attended 94.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.2% 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, 1.4% of pupils at Bader 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 Bader Primary School had 18.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.6% 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, 18.8% of pupils at Bader Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.5% 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 Bader Primary School received £7,940 and spent £7,847 for each of its 273 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £555,000 (£2,032 per pupil).

Across all 15 schools of Spark Education Trust, income was £7,398 and spending £7,254 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 Stockton-On-Tees · Stockton-on-Tees local authority: places and applications

Bader Primary School is part of Spark Education Trust, which runs 15 schools. The nearest others:

• Whinstone Primary School Stockton-On-Tees
• The Links Primary School Stockton-On-Tees
• Junction Farm Primary School Stockton-On-Tees
• Levendale Primary School Yarm
• Egglescliffe School Stockton-On-Tees
• Whitehouse Primary School Stockton-On-Tees
• Conyers School Yarm
• Layfield Primary School Yarm
• Kirklevington Primary School Yarm
• Chandlers Ridge Academy Middlesbrough

What is Bader Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bader Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in February 2026.

When was Bader Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Bader Primary School was last inspected in February 2026.

How many pupils does Bader Primary School have?

Bader Primary School has 276 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bader Primary School cover?

Bader Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Bader Primary School?

Bader Primary School is at Kintyre Drive, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 0BY.