Cotham Gardens Primary School
18 Cotham Grove, Bristol, BS6 6AL
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- COTHAM GARDENS PRIMARY SCHOOL LTD
- Headteacher
- Ms Emmeline Smith
- Constituency
- Bristol Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 630
- Pupils on roll
- 365
- URN
- 138708
- Local authority
- Bristol, City of
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01173772610
About this school
Cotham Gardens Primary School is a primary academy in Bristol. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 365 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Early years
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
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 | 80 | 81 | 77 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 32% | 40% | 53% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 73% | 72% | 81% |
| Expected standard in maths | 51% | 59% | 74% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 66% | 62% | 64% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 104.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 100.0 | 101.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -4.20 | - | - |
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 Cotham Gardens 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 | Bristol, City of average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 32% | 51.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 40% | 52.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 53% | 55.2% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 536 |
| 2023/24 | 482 |
| 2024/25 | 412 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Cotham Gardens Primary School compares
Cotham Gardens Primary School ranked 64th of 92 primary schools in Bristol, City of for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 26% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53% | 5.1% | 20.6% | 365 | — |
| Ss Peter and Paul RC Primary School | 81% | 4.5% | 13.8% | 147 | 0.3 miles |
| Willow Park CofE Primary School | — | — | — | — | 0.7 miles |
| E-Act Fairlawn Primary School | 61% | 4.2% | 23.1% | 308 | 0.7 miles |
| St Johns Church of England Primary School, Clifton | 77% | 3.5% | 11.2% | 481 | 0.8 miles |
| Cabot Primary School | 48% | 6.3% | 51.8% | 197 | 0.8 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)
- 20.63%
- English as an additional language
- 45.1%
- Overall absence
- 5.11%
- Persistent absence
- 12.68%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Ss Peter and Paul RC Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Bristol
-
Willow Park CofE Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Bristol
-
E-Act Fairlawn Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Montpelier
-
St Johns Church of England Primary School, Clifton0.8 miles
Primary · Bristol
-
Cabot Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Bristol
Other schools in Bristol
Cotham Gardens Primary School ranks 149th of the 198 ranked primary schools in Bristol.
- Abbotswood Primary School Primary
- Air Balloon Hill Primary School Primary
- Ashley Down Primary School Primary
- Ashton Gate Primary School Primary
- Ashton Vale Primary School Primary
- Avanti Gardens School Primary
- Avonmouth Church of England Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Backwell Church of England Junior School Primary
- Badocks Wood E-ACT Academy Primary
- Bailey's Court Primary School Primary
- Barley Close Community Primary School Primary
- Barrs Court Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Cotham Gardens Primary School teach?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Bristol.
- Who is the headteacher of Cotham Gardens Primary School?
- The headteacher of Cotham Gardens Primary School is Ms Emmeline Smith, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Cotham Gardens Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Cotham Gardens 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 Cotham Gardens Primary School?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School has 365 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Cotham Gardens Primary School full?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School has capacity for 630 pupils and 365 on roll (58%), 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 Cotham Gardens Primary School a faith school?
- No. Cotham Gardens Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Cotham Gardens Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Cotham Gardens Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Cotham Gardens Primary School?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School is part of COTHAM GARDENS PRIMARY SCHOOL LTD. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Cotham Gardens Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 32% in 2022/23 and 53% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Cotham Gardens Primary School rank locally?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School ranked 64th of 92 primary schools in Bristol, City of for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 26% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Cotham Gardens Primary School's absence rate?
- Cotham Gardens Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Cotham Gardens Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Cotham Gardens 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 1 July 2026.