Parkside Academy
General Information
- Address: Greengate Street, BARROW-in-FURNESS, LA13 9BY – View on map
- Phone: 01229828348
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Anthony Costa
- Age range: 2-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 24 families put it first for 27 places – 9 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 12 · 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 9
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: Yes
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 88
- % eligible for free school meals: 32.8%
- Pupil mix: 0 in 10 (less mixed than the Westmorland and Furness average)
- English as an additional language: 2% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 17.1% a year (Westmorland and Furness 12.8%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 60% moved to another school, 40% 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 Westmorland and Furness: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 1 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 3 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (0.0 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 Westmorland and Furness, 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: 4.3%
- Persistently absent pupils: 10.1%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 14.7%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 5.9%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Social, emotional and mental health: 17 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 12 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 6 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 5 pupils
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 5 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils
- Severe learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card January 2026
Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.
- Safeguarding Met
- Inclusion Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
- Achievement Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
- Early years Strong standard
- Leadership and governance Expected standard
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 71% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 7% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 13 percentage points above the Westmorland and Furness average (58%)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (3-year average 61% against an expected 60%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 61%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 79% · Writing 79% · Maths 75% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 86%
- Average test scores: reading 105, maths 105
- Based on: 28 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 25th of 98 junior and primary schools in the area
- =22Stramongate Primary School73%
- #24Sir John Barrow School72%
- =25Parkside Academy71%
- =25St Patrick's CofE School71%
- =27Chetwynde School70%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £6,633 (2024-25)
81st of 101 primary schools in Westmorland and Furness for spending per pupil
- #79Stainton CofE Primary School£6,763
- #80St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Penrith£6,731
- #81Parkside Academy£6,633
- #82St Mark's CofE Primary School£6,598
- #83Kirkby Stephen Primary School£6,508
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)