Carrwood Primary School

Carrwood Primary is a caring, inclusive school that has been through significant change since joining Leading Learners Multi Academy Trust in July 2023 and appointing a new headteacher and deputy. This is its first inspection since those changes. The inspection found a strong culture of pastoral care, inclusion and personal development, with pupils feeling safe and well supported. Safeguarding standards are met. The school serves a deprived community with high proportions of disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND and those with EHC plans, and includes a resourced provision for autistic pupils. The strongest features are personal development and wellbeing, early years provision, reading and phonics, and inclusion. Pupils benefit from a well-sequenced curriculum, positive behaviour and a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities. Leaders know the school and community well, and staff feel supported. However, achievement and attendance require attention. Published outcomes are too low, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, and gaps in key stage 2 knowledge and skills are not closing quickly enough to prepare pupils fully for secondary school. Overall attendance is below expectations and persistent absence is high, although leaders have a clear strategy and early signs of improvement. Handwriting also needs further embedding. Overall, the school has many strengths and capacity to improve, but must secure better outcomes and attendance.

Strengths

• Strong culture of pastoral care and support for pupils and families.
• Personal development and wellbeing are a clear strength.
• Pupils feel safe, valued and supported, with warm and respectful relationships.
• A well-structured personal development programme builds understanding of healthy relationships, respect and British values.
• Inclusive provision ensures SEND and disadvantaged pupils can access learning and enrichment.
• Early years provision is language-rich and children make very good progress from their starting points.
• Reading and phonics are prioritised, with effective keep-up and catch-up support.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious and well sequenced from Nursery to Year 6.
• Behaviour is positive, with calm routines and pupils who engage well in learning.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of trips, visits, residentials and extracurricular activities.
• Pupil leadership opportunities, such as pupil parliament, develop responsibility and civic awareness.
• Leaders, governors and trust work together effectively, and staff feel well supported.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture of safeguarding.

Areas for Improvement

• Published outcomes are too low across reading, writing and mathematics.
• Too many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve below expected standards in national tests.
• Gaps in pupils’ knowledge and foundational skills are not closing quickly enough in key stage 2.
• Pupils are not always fully prepared for the next stage of education, particularly secondary school.
• Overall attendance is below leaders’ expectations.
• Too many pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, are regularly absent.
• Persistent absence is well above the national average.
• The impact of recent attendance actions is not yet proven to be sustained.
• Handwriting provision needs to be embedded so all pupils develop secure skills.
• The disadvantaged pupils’ performance gap remains substantial.

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 Carrwood Primary School attended 90.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 34.2% 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, 1.9% of pupils at Carrwood 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 Carrwood Primary School had 22.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 32.4% 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, 20.0% of pupils at Carrwood Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 14 pupils.

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 Carrwood Primary School received £9,061 and spent £9,588 for each of its 284 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £24,000 (-£86 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of Leading Learners Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,741 and spending £8,045 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 Bradford · Bradford local authority: places and applications

Carrwood Primary School is part of Leading Learners Multi Academy Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Woodside Academy Bradford
• Reevy Hill Primary School Bradford
• Worth Valley Primary School Keighley
• Tyldesley Primary School Manchester
• Mendell Primary School Wirral
• Manor Primary School Wirral
• Chapelhill Primary School Wirral
• Overchurch Junior School Wirral
• Brookdale Primary School Wirral

What is Carrwood Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Carrwood Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Carrwood Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Carrwood Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Carrwood Primary School have?

Carrwood Primary School has 285 pupils on roll.

What age range does Carrwood Primary School cover?

Carrwood Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 30% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Carrwood Primary School?

Carrwood Primary School is at Eversley Drive, Holmewood, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD4 0EQ.