Beamish Primary School
General Information
- Address: Co-operative Villas, Beamish, Stanley, DH9 0QN – View on map
- Phone: 01913700181
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mrs Karen Telfer
- Age range: 2-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 6 families put it first for 6 places – 10 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 10
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: Yes
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 18
- % eligible for free school meals: 48.6%
- Pupil mix: 1 in 10 (less mixed than the County Durham average)
- English as an additional language: 4% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 35.7% a year (County Durham 13.1%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 100% moved to another school, 0% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (one year, DfE school workforce census)
Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across County Durham: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 12 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 5 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 3 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
- Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)
These are figures for all state primary schools in County Durham, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.
Attendance
- Overall absence: 7.3%
- Persistently absent pupils: 19.1%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 56.3%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 4.2%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Social, emotional and mental health: 12 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
- Other difficulty or disability: 2 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Speech, language and communications needs: 1 pupil
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Good 2021 report
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 29% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 14% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 33 percentage points below the County Durham average (62%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 38%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 43% · Writing 71% · Maths 57% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 43%
- Average test scores: reading 100, maths 101
- Based on: 7 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25
View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.
SATs results over time
Year 6 SATs: joint 177th of 184 junior and primary schools in the area
- =175Bearpark Primary School31%
- =175St Marys Catholic Primary School, Wingate31%
- =177Beamish Primary School29%
- =177Butterknowle Primary School29%
- =177Stephenson Way Academy and Nursery School29%
Click to see the full ranking
View full Ofsted inspection report
8th of 141 primary schools in County Durham for Ofsted rating
- #6Thornhill Primary SchoolOutstanding
- #7West Cornforth Primary SchoolOutstanding
- #8Beamish Primary SchoolGood
- #9Bearpark Primary SchoolGood
- #10Belmont Cheveley Park Primary SchoolGood
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £12,295 (2024-25)
8th of 189 primary schools in County Durham for spending per pupil
- #6Bowes Hutchinson's CofE (Aided) School£13,452
- #7Evenwood Church of England Primary School£12,463
- #8Beamish Primary School£12,295
- #9Ferryhill Station Primary School£12,187
- #10Laurel Avenue Community Primary School£11,887
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)