Pottery Primary School
Kilbourne Road, Belper, DE56 1HA
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Darren Hooley
- Constituency
- Mid Derbyshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 318
- Pupils on roll
- 285
- URN
- 112787
- Local authority
- Derbyshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01773823383
About this school
Pottery Primary School is a community primary school in Belper. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 285 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Pottery Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 46 | 50 | 40 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 52% | 26% | 23% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 4% | 0% | 3% |
| Expected standard in reading | 63% | 56% | 68% |
| Expected standard in maths | 59% | 46% | 53% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 59% | 52% | 65% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 101.0 | 102.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -3.50 | - | - |
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 Pottery Primary 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 | 52% | 58.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 26% | 56.8% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 23% | 57.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 318 |
| 2023/24 | 309 |
| 2024/25 | 302 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Pottery Primary School compares
Pottery Primary School ranked 240th of 246 primary schools in Derbyshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 6% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 71% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 23% | 4.6% | 25.2% | 285 | — |
| St John's CofE Primary School and Nursery | 55% | 3.1% | 17.1% | 398 | 0.4 miles |
| Herbert Strutt Primary School | 71% | 5% | 41.7% | 178 | 0.8 miles |
| St Elizabeth's Catholic Voluntary Academy | 67% | 4.2% | 11.1% | 167 | 0.9 miles |
| Long Row Primary School | 55% | 3.7% | 20% | 264 | 1.0 miles |
| Street Lane Primary School | 77% | 4.9% | 25% | 93 | 1.5 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 25.17%
- English as an additional language
- 2.3%
- Overall absence
- 4.55%
- Persistent absence
- 8.75%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St John's CofE Primary School and Nursery0.4 miles
Primary · Belper
-
Herbert Strutt Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Belper
-
St Elizabeth's Catholic Voluntary Academy0.9 miles
Primary · Belper
-
Long Row Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Belper
-
Street Lane Primary School1.5 miles
Primary · Ripley
Other schools in Belper
Pottery Primary School ranks 13th of the 13 ranked primary schools in Belper.
- Ambergate Primary School Primary
- Duffield the Meadows Primary School Primary
- Fritchley CofE (Aided) Primary & Nursery School Primary
- Heage Primary School Primary
- Herbert Strutt Primary School Primary
- Holbrook Church of England Primary School Primary
- Kilburn Junior School Primary
- Long Row Primary School Primary
- Milford Primary School Primary
- St Elizabeth's Catholic Voluntary Academy Primary
- St John's CofE Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Turnditch Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Pottery Primary School teach?
- Pottery Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Belper.
- Who is the headteacher of Pottery Primary School?
- The headteacher of Pottery Primary School is Mr Darren Hooley, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Pottery Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Pottery Primary 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 Pottery Primary School?
- Pottery Primary School has 285 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Pottery Primary School full?
- Pottery Primary School has capacity for 318 pupils and 285 on roll (90%), 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 Pottery Primary School a faith school?
- No. Pottery Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Pottery Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Pottery Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Pottery Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 52% in 2022/23 and 23% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Pottery Primary School compare with other schools in Derbyshire?
- Pottery Primary School ranked 240th of 246 primary schools in Derbyshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 6% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 71% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Pottery Primary School's absence rate?
- Pottery Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Pottery Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Pottery Primary 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.