Willow Tree Primary School

Willow Tree Primary School, inspected for the first time since joining the Vantage Academy Trust, demonstrates good overall performance across various domains, including educational quality, behavior, personal development, leadership, and early years provision. The school's motto, 'Small school, big heart,' reflects a strong community ethos where pupils feel safe and valued. Leaders have effectively implemented improvements in reading instruction, which has resulted in more students meeting essential reading benchmarks.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite and friendly and display a strong sense of belonging.
• Leaders have a comprehensive understanding of the school community.
• Strong emphasis on personal development with various extracurricular activities.
• Improved reading instruction has led to better performance in the Year 1 phonic screening check.
• Staff promote a culture of safety and well-being among pupils.

Areas for Improvement

• Some younger pupils struggle with letter formation due to lack of practice.
• Attendance rates for some pupils are lower than expected.

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 Tree Primary School attended 91.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 31.6% 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, 0.5% of pupils at Willow Tree 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 Tree Primary School had 15.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 23.9% 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, 23.9% of pupils at Willow Tree Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 8.5% 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 Willow Tree Primary School received £7,916 and spent £7,979 for each of its 188 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £875,000 (-£4,653 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of Vantage Ce Academies Trust, income was £7,696 and spending £7,506 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 Liverpool · Knowsley local authority: places and applications

Willow Tree Primary School is part of Vantage Ce Academies Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Knowsley Lane Primary School Liverpool
• Flixton Girls School Manchester
• Ss Simon & Jude CofE Primary School, Bolton Bolton
• St Augustine's CofE Primary School Manchester
• St Hilda's CofE Primary School Manchester
• St Paul's CofE Primary School Salford
• Gorton Primary School Manchester
• St Barnabas CofE Primary Academy Manchester
• St James' CofE Primary School Gorton Manchester

What is Willow Tree Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Willow Tree Primary School is Good, from an inspection in September 2023.

When was Willow Tree Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Willow Tree Primary School was last inspected in September 2023.

How many pupils does Willow Tree Primary School have?

Willow Tree Primary School has 176 pupils on roll.

What age range does Willow Tree Primary School cover?

Willow Tree Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Willow Tree Primary School?

Willow Tree Primary School is at Bedford Close, Huyton, Liverpool, Merseyside, L36 1XH.