Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery
Cooks Spinney, Harlow, CM20 3BW
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- BMAT EDUCATION
- Headteacher
- Ms Nadia Wilkie
- Religious ethos
- None
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- BMAT Education
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- Harlow
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 468
- Pupils on roll
- 443
- URN
- 140024
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01279437590
About this school
Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery is a primary academy in Harlow. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 443 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
- Good
- 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 | 57 | 62 | 56 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 53% | 53% | 38% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 14% | 6% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 60% | 65% | 55% |
| Expected standard in maths | 70% | 73% | 46% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 61% | 63% | 45% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 102.0 | 103.0 | 100.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 103.0 | 97.0 |
| Reading progress | -3.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.70 | - | - |
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 Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Essex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 53% | 58.9% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 53% | 59.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 38% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 461 |
| 2023/24 | 462 |
| 2024/25 | 459 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery compares
Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery ranked 365th of 388 primary schools in Essex for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38% | 7.7% | 51.6% | 443 | — |
| Tany's Dell Primary School and Nursery | 83% | 5.1% | 34.6% | 437 | 0.5 miles |
| St Alban's Catholic Academy | 57% | 4.7% | 16.8% | 227 | 0.5 miles |
| Freshwaters Primary Academy | 62% | 6.5% | 40.1% | 413 | 0.6 miles |
| Church Langley Community Primary School | 73% | 4.3% | 11% | 406 | 0.6 miles |
| Fawbert and Barnard's Primary School | 52% | 4% | 13.4% | 208 | 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)
- 51.58%
- English as an additional language
- 22.2%
- Overall absence
- 7.74%
- Persistent absence
- 20.6%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Tany's Dell Primary School and Nursery0.5 miles
Primary · Harlow
-
St Alban's Catholic Academy0.5 miles
Primary · Harlow
-
Freshwaters Primary Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Harlow
-
Church Langley Community Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Harlow
-
Fawbert and Barnard's Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Old Harlow
Other schools in Harlow
Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery ranks 28th of the 30 ranked primary schools in Harlow.
- Abbotsweld Primary Academy Primary
- Church Langley Community Primary School Primary
- Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harlow Primary
- Freshwaters Primary Academy Primary
- Hare Street Community Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Harlowbury Primary School Primary
- Henry Moore Primary School Primary
- Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, Harlow Primary
- Jerounds Primary Academy Primary
- Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery Primary
- Kingsmoor Academy Primary
- Latton Green Primary Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery teach?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Harlow.
- Who is the headteacher of Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery?
- The headteacher of Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery is Ms Nadia Wilkie, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery, 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 Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery has 443 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery full?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery has capacity for 468 pupils and 443 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery a faith school?
- No. Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery has no designated religious character.
- Does Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery is part of BMAT EDUCATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery have?
- The schools register lists Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 53% in 2022/23 and 38% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery rank locally?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery ranked 365th of 388 primary schools in Essex for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery's absence rate?
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery's overall absence rate is 7.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery'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.