Bankwood Primary School

Bankwood Primary School is performing at the expected standard overall. It serves a challenging and highly mobile community: many pupils join mid-year, some are new to the country or have never attended school, and the proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals and receiving SEN support are well above national averages. Leaders and trustees have worked relentlessly since the school became a sponsored academy in the Steel City Schools Partnership, and the school is now calm, inclusive and improving. Pupils achieve well from their starting points, with the strongest progress seen the longer they remain at the school; disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND make suitable progress, and basic reading, writing and mathematics are secure.

Strengths

• Inclusive school where every pupil is valued and supported.
• Strong leadership and governance driving rapid improvement since joining the trust.
• Coherent, well-ordered curriculum with clear end goals from early years to Year 6.
• Effective phonics and reading teaching with same-day support and ambitious vocabulary.
• Pupils with SEND learn the same ambitious curriculum and make steady progress.
• New arrivals and pupils with complex needs receive focused catch-up and expert support.
• Calm, purposeful behaviour and warm, respectful staff-pupil relationships.
• Early years provision prioritises communication, language and physical development.
• Attendance is improving, including for disadvantaged pupils, and persistent absence has fallen recently.
• Personal development curriculum promotes safety, respect, British values and pupil roles.
• Safeguarding standards are met with an open culture of safeguarding.
• Staff feel valued and workload and wellbeing are protected.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance remains below national expectations, with overall and persistent absence still high.
• The range of trips and visits does not broaden pupils' experiences well enough.
• Tasks are not always consistently matched to pupils' age and stage.
• Older pupils have too few opportunities to write at length.

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 Bankwood Primary School attended 91.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 33.6% 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, 4.1% of pupils at Bankwood 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 Bankwood Primary School had 19.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.9% 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, 20.1% of pupils at Bankwood Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.0% 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 Bankwood Primary School received £8,194 and spent £7,693 for each of its 409 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £5,000 (£13 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of Steel City Schools Partnership, income was £7,074 and spending £6,980 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 Sheffield · Sheffield local authority: places and applications

Bankwood Primary School is part of Steel City Schools Partnership, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Woodseats Primary School Sheffield
• Greenhill Primary School Sheffield
• Brook House Junior Sheffield
• Fox Hill Primary Sheffield
• Mansel Primary Sheffield
• Monteney Primary School Sheffield
• Windmill Hill Primary School Sheffield
• Lound Infant School Sheffield
• Lound Junior School Sheffield

What is Bankwood Primary School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Bankwood Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Bankwood Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Bankwood Primary School have?

Bankwood Primary School has 442 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bankwood Primary School cover?

Bankwood Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 54% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Bankwood Primary School?

Bankwood Primary School is at Bankwood Close, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S14 1LW.