Unstone Junior School
Main Road, Unstone, Dronfield, S18 4AB
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 7 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Rachael Fowlds
- Federation
- Unstone Schools Federation
- Constituency
- North East Derbyshire
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 76
- Pupils on roll
- 49
- URN
- 112642
- Local authority
- Derbyshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01246413109
About this school
Unstone Junior School is a community primary school in Dronfield. It teaches children aged 7 to 11 and has 49 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Unstone Junior School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Urgent improvement
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Urgent improvement
- Safeguarding
- Met
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: special measures.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 13 | 14 | 18 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 54% | 50% | 67% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 15% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 69% | 57% | 78% |
| Expected standard in maths | 85% | 71% | 78% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 62% | 79% | 94% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 102.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 102.0 | 107.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.50 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Unstone Junior School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Derbyshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 54% | 58.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 50% | 56.8% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 67% | 57.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 49 |
| 2023/24 | 50 |
| 2024/25 | 59 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Unstone Junior School compares
Unstone Junior School ranked 100th of 246 primary schools in Derbyshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 57% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 67% | 5.3% | 47.5% | 49 | — |
| Unstone St Mary's Nursery & Infant School | — | 6.7% | 34.3% | 50 | 0.3 miles |
| Dronfield Stonelow Junior School | 76% | 4.7% | 37.8% | 139 | 1.3 miles |
| Holmesdale Infant School | — | 4.8% | 16.9% | 150 | 1.4 miles |
| Northfield Junior School | 75% | 2.8% | 19.1% | 165 | 1.4 miles |
| Mary Swanwick Primary School | 72% | 4.9% | 46.1% | 239 | 1.4 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report13 January 2026
- 23 November 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 47.46%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 5.34%
- Persistent absence
- 8.33%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Unstone St Mary's Nursery & Infant School0.3 miles
Primary · Dronfield
-
Dronfield Stonelow Junior School1.3 miles
Primary · Dronfield
-
Holmesdale Infant School1.4 miles
Primary · Dronfield
-
Northfield Junior School1.4 miles
Primary · Dronfield
-
Mary Swanwick Primary School1.4 miles
Primary · Chesterfield
Other schools in Dronfield
Unstone Junior School ranks 7th of the 9 ranked primary schools in Dronfield.
- Barlow CofE Primary School Primary
- Dronfield Infant School Primary
- Dronfield Junior School Primary
- Dronfield Stonelow Junior School Primary
- Gorseybrigg Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Holmesdale Infant School Primary
- Lenthall Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Northfield Junior School Primary
- Penny Acres Primary School Primary
- St Andrew's CofE Methodist (Aided) Primary School Primary
- Unstone St Mary's Nursery & Infant School Primary
- William Levick Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Unstone Junior School teach?
- Unstone Junior School teaches children aged 7 to 11. It is a primary school in Dronfield.
- Who is the headteacher of Unstone Junior School?
- The headteacher of Unstone Junior School is Mrs Rachael Fowlds, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Unstone Junior School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Unstone Junior School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Unstone Junior School?
- Unstone Junior School has 49 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 7 to 11.
- Is Unstone Junior School full?
- Unstone Junior School has capacity for 76 pupils and 49 on roll (64%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Unstone Junior School a faith school?
- No. Unstone Junior School has no designated religious character.
- Does Unstone Junior School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Unstone Junior School as having no nursery classes.
- Is Unstone Junior School part of an academy trust?
- Unstone Junior School is part of the Unstone Schools Federation federation. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Unstone Junior School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 54% in 2022/23 and 67% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Unstone Junior School compare with other schools in Derbyshire?
- Unstone Junior School ranked 100th of 246 primary schools in Derbyshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 57% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Unstone Junior School's absence rate?
- Unstone Junior School's overall absence rate is 5.3% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Unstone Junior School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Unstone Junior School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.