Dovedale Community Primary School
Herondale Road, Liverpool, L18 1JX
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Head Teacher
- Mr Nik Smith
- Constituency
- Liverpool Garston
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 840
- Pupils on roll
- 839
- URN
- 141960
- Local authority
- Liverpool
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01517334232
About this school
Dovedale Community Primary School is a community primary school in Liverpool. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 839 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 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
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 117 | 116 | 119 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 70% | 71% | 66% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 11% | 7% | 11% |
| Expected standard in reading | 82% | 88% | 77% |
| Expected standard in maths | 79% | 76% | 76% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 79% | 80% | 81% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 107.0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 104.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +1.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +1.20 | - | - |
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 Dovedale Community 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 | Liverpool average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 70% | 52.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 71% | 55.4% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 66% | 55.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 3.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 3.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 825 |
| 2023/24 | 835 |
| 2024/25 | 838 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Dovedale Community Primary School compares
Dovedale Community Primary School ranked 39th of 107 primary schools in Liverpool for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 55% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 97% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 66% | 3.3% | 9.2% | 839 | — |
| St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School | 77% | 4.2% | 5.1% | 217 | 0.2 miles |
| Greenbank Primary School | 57% | 6% | 38% | 434 | 0.4 miles |
| Mosspits Lane Primary School | 75% | 4% | 9.9% | 391 | 0.7 miles |
| Our Lady's Bishop Eton Catholic Primary School | 77% | 3% | 3.8% | 417 | 0.8 miles |
| Wavertree Church of England School | 33% | 7.4% | 59.1% | 159 | 0.9 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)
- 9.19%
- English as an additional language
- 10%
- Overall absence
- 3.26%
- Persistent absence
- 4.93%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Liverpool
-
Greenbank Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Liverpool
-
Mosspits Lane Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Liverpool
-
Our Lady's Bishop Eton Catholic Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Liverpool
-
Wavertree Church of England School0.9 miles
Primary · Liverpool
Other schools in Liverpool
Dovedale Community Primary School ranks 63rd of the 176 ranked primary schools in Liverpool.
- Aintree Davenhill Primary School Primary
- All Saints' Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Anfield Road Primary School Primary
- Arnot St Mary CofE Primary School Primary
- Banks Road Primary School Primary
- Barlows Primary School Primary
- Bedford Primary School Primary
- Belle Vale Community Primary School Primary
- Bishop Martin Church of England Primary School, Woolton Primary
- Blacklow Brow School Primary
- Blackmoor Park Infants' School Primary
- Blackmoor Park Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Dovedale Community Primary School teach?
- Dovedale Community Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Liverpool.
- Who is the head teacher of Dovedale Community Primary School?
- The head teacher of Dovedale Community Primary School is Mr Nik Smith, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Dovedale Community Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Dovedale Community 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 Dovedale Community Primary School?
- Dovedale Community Primary School has 839 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Dovedale Community Primary School full?
- Dovedale Community Primary School has capacity for 840 pupils and 839 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 Dovedale Community Primary School a faith school?
- No. Dovedale Community Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Dovedale Community Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Dovedale Community Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Dovedale Community 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 66% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Dovedale Community Primary School rank locally?
- Dovedale Community Primary School ranked 39th of 107 primary schools in Liverpool for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 55% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 97% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Dovedale Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Dovedale Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 3.3% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Dovedale Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Dovedale Community 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 2 July 2026.