Willow Tree Primary School

Academy converter·Primary school St Helens, St. Helens·WA9 4LZ
Composite score
74.3
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#1,210
National rank
#144
In North West
#3
In St. Helens
Top 8%
Nationally

Performance (KS2 SATs)

% meeting expected RWM
73%
% achieving higher RWM
23%
Reading average scaled score
110.0
National avg ≈ 105
Maths average scaled score
108.0
National avg ≈ 104
Reading progress
—
Maths progress
—

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Early years provision
Requires improvement

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
10 first choices, 11 places
First choices per place
0.91
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
38
any preference, for 11 places
Applications from another council area
3%

Every child who put Willow Tree Primary School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
3–11
Pupils on roll
184
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
44.7%
Typical primary: 21.5%
% EAL
9.8%
Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
29.9%
Typical primary: 14.3%
% with an EHC plan
6.0%
Typical primary: 3.0%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
21.3
Typical primary: 20.7
Spend per pupil
£6,512
Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Location

School overview

Willow Tree Primary School is a primary school serving St Helens, St. Helens, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. It has 184 pupils aged 3 to 11 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Willow Tree Primary School 'Requires improvement'. 73% of its pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, above the national average (national figure: 61%). The proportion reaching the expected standard has risen by 6.0 percentage points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it among the top 8% of primary schools in England.

Pupils achieved an average scaled score of 110 in reading and 108 in maths (national averages are about 105 and 104). 23% reached the higher standard across all three subjects (around 8% do so nationally). Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Willow Tree Primary School their first choice was offered one of its 11 Reception places. There are about 21.3 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 45% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. If you are considering Willow Tree Primary School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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