The Willows Primary School
Greatbatch Avenue, Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 7JY
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Thursfield
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- SEN provision
- HI - Hearing Impairment
- Constituency
- Stoke-on-Trent Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 690
- Pupils on roll
- 689
- URN
- 123999
- Local authority
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01782233280
About this school
The Willows Primary School is a community primary school in Stoke-on-Trent. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 689 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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 did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Good
- 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 | 90 | 90 | 92 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 70% | 67% | 73% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 8% | 8% | 12% |
| Expected standard in reading | 74% | 81% | 82% |
| Expected standard in maths | 83% | 84% | 84% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 83% | 83% | 84% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 107.0 | 108.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +1.60 | - | - |
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 The Willows 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 | Stoke-on-Trent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 70% | 54.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 67% | 56.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 73% | 57.6% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 687 |
| 2023/24 | 687 |
| 2024/25 | 690 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Willows Primary School compares
The Willows Primary School ranked 12th of 64 primary schools in Stoke-on-Trent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 73% | 4.1% | 24.1% | 689 | — |
| St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School | 58% | 4.3% | 15.8% | 229 | 0.5 miles |
| St John's CofE (A) Primary School | 48% | 5% | 28.6% | 270 | 0.7 miles |
| Stoke Minster CofE Primary Academy | 42% | 5.7% | 45.5% | 343 | 0.7 miles |
| Harpfield Primary Academy | 67% | 3.9% | 27.4% | 226 | 0.8 miles |
| Oakhill Primary School | 58% | 5.4% | 41.6% | 452 | 1.1 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 24.13%
- English as an additional language
- 22.6%
- Overall absence
- 4.09%
- Persistent absence
- 7.79%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Stoke-on-Trent
-
St John's CofE (A) Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Stoke-on-Trent
-
Stoke Minster CofE Primary Academy0.7 miles
Primary · Stoke-on-Trent
-
Harpfield Primary Academy0.8 miles
Primary · Stoke-on-Trent
-
Oakhill Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Stoke-on-Trent
Other schools in Stoke-on-Trent
The Willows Primary School ranks 26th of the 102 ranked primary schools in Stoke-on-Trent.
- Abbey Hulton Primary School Primary
- Alexandra Infants' School Primary
- Alexandra Junior School Primary
- All Saints' CofE First School Primary
- Alsager Highfields Community Primary School Primary
- Alsagers Bank Primary Academy Primary
- Ash Green Primary Academy Primary
- Ball Green Primary Academy Primary
- Barlaston CofE (VC) First School Primary
- Belgrave St Bartholomew's Academy Primary
- Bishop Rawle CofE Primary School Primary
- Burnwood Primary Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Willows Primary School teach?
- The Willows Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Stoke-on-Trent.
- Who is the headteacher of The Willows Primary School?
- The headteacher of The Willows Primary School is Mrs Sarah Thursfield, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Willows Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Willows 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 big is The Willows Primary School?
- The Willows Primary School has 689 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is The Willows Primary School full?
- The Willows Primary School has capacity for 690 pupils and 689 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 The Willows Primary School a faith school?
- No. The Willows Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does The Willows Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records The Willows Primary School as having nursery classes.
- What SEN provision does The Willows Primary School have?
- The schools register lists The Willows Primary School's special educational needs provision as: HI - Hearing Impairment. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Willows Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 70% in 2022/23 and 73% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Willows Primary School rank locally?
- The Willows Primary School ranked 12th of 64 primary schools in Stoke-on-Trent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Willows Primary School's absence rate?
- The Willows Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Willows Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Willows 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 30 June 2026.