Butterknowle Primary School
General Information
- Address: Pinfold Lane, Butterknowle, Bishop Auckland, DL13 5PB – View on map
- Phone: 01388718369
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Richard Sains
- Age range: 3-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 3 families put it first for 3 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: 2023 10 · 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: 11
- % eligible for free school meals: 20.4%
- Pupil mix: 0 in 10 (less mixed than the County Durham average)
- English as an additional language: 0% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 21.6% a year (County Durham 13.1%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 0% moved to another school, 100% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, 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: 4.4%
- Persistently absent pupils: 6.8%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 25.9%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 1.9%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 7 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 3 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Speech, language and communications needs: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card February 2026
Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.
- Safeguarding Met
- Inclusion Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
- Achievement Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
- Early years Expected standard
- Leadership and governance Expected standard
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Requires improvement (2023). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 29% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 0% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 33 percentage points below the County Durham average (62%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 29%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 29% · Writing 43% · Maths 43% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 29%
- Average test scores: reading 97, maths 98
- 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
- =175St Marys Catholic Primary School, Wingate31%
- =177Beamish Primary School29%
- =177Butterknowle Primary School29%
- =177Stephenson Way Academy and Nursery School29%
- #180St Francis Horndale CofE Primary School25%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £11,643 (2024-25)
12th of 189 primary schools in County Durham for spending per pupil
- #10Laurel Avenue Community Primary School£11,887
- #11St Joseph's Catholic Primary School£11,649
- #12Butterknowle Primary School£11,643
- #13St Michael's Church of England Primary School£11,521
- #14Tow Law Millennium Primary School£11,336
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)