School Chooser

Dorridge Primary School

Primary · ages 3-11MixedAcademy702 pupilsNurserySolihull
School Chooser Score
94
Well above
similar schools
Likely range 90 to 97
Out of 100. Better than 71% of the 50 schools most like it.
OfstedNo overall gradeLast Ofsted inspection, October 2024
Reached the expected level at 1178%England 63%
Attendance97.2%England 94.8%
Pupils from low-income families5%Far fewer than most schools
Places8 spare702 pupils, 710 places
Pupils per teacher23.9School workforce census

Dorridge Primary School is a converter academy in Solihull for boys and girls aged 3 to 11. It has 702 pupils and room for 710. About 5 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 94 out of 100. That puts it well above schools like it, ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2024, no overall grade.

Station Road, Dorridge, Solihull, B93 8EU01564 772836dorridge.solihull.sch.ukHeadteacher GemmaThelwell /JodieHales headteacherAll details

What Ofsted found

Ofsted's last full inspection was on 8 October 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.

Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.

TeachingOfsted calls this “quality of education”
Good
BehaviourOfsted calls this “behaviour and attitudes”
Outstanding
WellbeingOfsted calls this “personal development”
Outstanding
LeadershipOfsted calls this “leadership and management”
Good
Early years
Good
Safeguarding
Effective
Yes
Earlier inspections (1)
DateTypeOutcome
24 May 2023UngradedSchool remains Good (Improving) - S5 Next

Results

Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025

89 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England.

Reached the expected level at 1178%
England 63%
Official name: Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Working above the expected level17%
England 8%
Official name: Higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Reading score109.0
England 105.6
Official name: Reading average scaled score
Maths score108.0
England 104.6
Official name: Maths average scaled score
Trend
Reached the expected level at 11
2017 to 2025
2017: 59%59%20172018: 70%70%20182019: 79%79%20192023: 73%73%20232024: 73%73%20242025: 78%78%2025
Since 2017: +19%
All Year 6 measures, year by year
Measure202520242023†2019†2018†2017†SolihullEngland
Pupils tested899090919190
Reached the expected level at 11Expected standard in reading, writing and maths78%73%73%79%70%59%69%63%
Working above the expected levelHigher standard in reading, writing and maths17%20%12%16%24%12%13%8%
Reading scoreReading average scaled score109.0108.0108.0107.0108.0106.0106.8105.6
Maths scoreMaths average scaled score108.0106.0107.0108.0107.0105.0106.1104.6
Grammar and spelling scoreGPS average scaled score110.0108.0108.0109.0109.0107.0106.7105.2
Expected level: readingReading expected standard89%92%87%86%90%81%
Expected level: mathsMaths expected standard87%82%89%91%80%79%
Expected level: writingWriting expected standard (teacher assessed)83%81%80%87%85%68%
Reading progressReading progress score+1.6+0.5-0.8-1.4
Maths progressMaths progress score+1.2+1.1-1.7-1.4
Expected level: low-income pupilsExpected standard, disadvantaged38%56%64%14%
Expected level: other pupilsExpected standard, non-disadvantaged81%75%75%63%

There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.

† These results are for Dorridge Primary School, the school this one replaced in September 2023. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.

Does every child do well here?

A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. None of the gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.

At the end of primary school, 2025

Reached the expected level at 11Low-income pupils vs other pupils
38%81%
Gap 43 ptsEngland 21 pts
Reached the expected level at 11Boys vs girls
73%82%
Gap 9 ptsEngland 5 pts
Reached the higher level at 11Low-income pupils vs all pupils
0%17%
Gap 17 ptsEngland 5 pts
First groupSecond groupEngland, each group

Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.

Getting a place

Admissions policy not published.

Nearly full629 pupils for 630 places, 2024/25
100% full

Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference.

Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Solihull council's admissions booklet, send it to us.

Who goes here

Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.

Pupils on roll702Census January 2026
Places71099% full
Pupils from low-income families5%5% have had free school meals at some point in the last six years
Pupils learning English8%First language is not English
Pupils getting extra support12%83 pupils with SEN support
Pupils with an EHC plan2%11 pupils with a plan
Average class size30.523 classes, January 2026; England 25.4
Classes with more than 30 pupils52%Infant classes are capped at 30 by law; England 10%
Pupils with extra funding (pupil premium)5%£51,150 extra funding in 2026/27; England 24%
Boys and girls374 / 328
White British pupils76%

Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 28.1 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 31.7 (England 27.3).

The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (38), Specific learning difficulty (29), language and communications needs (13), Physical disability (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2).

How the mix of pupils has changed
Census202620252024
Pupils on roll702672695
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals5%5%6%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language8%7%6%
Pupils getting extra supportSEN support11%10%
Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans2%2%

Attendance and behaviour

In 2024/25 pupils were in school 97.2% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.

Attendance97.2%
England 94.8%
Official name: 100 minus overall absence
Pupils missing a lot of school1.3%
England 12.8%
Official name: Persistent absence
Suspensions per 100 pupils1.32024/25, no permanent exclusions
Missed without permission0.5%of school time, 2024/25
Attendance year by year
Measure2024/252023/242022/23†2021/22†2020/21†2018/19†England
Sessions missedOverall absence2.8%3.4%4.2%4.6%1.8%2.8%5.2%
Missed with permissionAuthorised absence2.3%2.6%3.2%3.8%1.6%2.3%
Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence0.5%0.8%1.1%0.9%0.2%0.5%
Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence1.3%3.9%6.8%5.2%2.2%1.7%12.8%
SuspensionsSuspension rate1.30.3
Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions00

† These attendance figures are for Dorridge Primary School, the school this one replaced in September 2023. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.

Staff and money

From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.

Teachers28.8full-time equivalent, 35 people
Pupils per teacher23.9Pupils for every full-time teacher
Fully qualified teachers100%hold qualified teacher status
Teaching assistants23.3full-time equivalent
Average teacher pay£51,379
Teachers who left in the year13%2024/25, for any reason including retirement
Vacancies0
Sick days per teacher3.52024/25

Money

From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.

Spend per pupil£6,450England £7,128. Total £4.3m
Income per pupil£6,885England £7,587. Total £4.6m
Spent on teachers per pupil£2,823England £3,405
Money in reserve10%A healthy amount put by: £475k, £717 per pupil. England 9%
Money in against money out+£288kit took in more than it spent this year
Where the money goes£6,450spent per pupil

Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.

The area around the school

Crimes within 500 m17712 months to June 2026, mostly violence and sexual offences
Local crime rate37 per 1,000 people60% lower than the England average
Typical house price£328,000Solihull

Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.

Nearby schools

The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.

Well aboveAboveIn lineBelowWell belowNot scored
SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
St George and St Teresa Catholic Primary SchoolAcademy200 m176Good 202481Compare
Bentley Heath Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy0.6 miles324Good 202385Compare
Knowle Church of England Primary AcademyAcademy1.2 miles468Good 202391Compare
Monkspath Junior and Infant SchoolCouncil1.7 miles703Report card 202690Compare
Tudor Grange Primary Academy Hockley HeathAcademy2.1 miles204Good 202477Compare
St Alphege Church of England Junior SchoolChurch of England2.2 miles252No overall grade 202593Compare
Lady Katherine Leveson Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy2.3 miles146Good 202378Compare
Cheswick Green Primary SchoolCouncil2.5 miles259Good 202347Compare

Compared with schools like it

Our score compares Dorridge Primary School with the 48 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.

Beats71%of schools with a similar mix of pupils
In the upper half of its group. Its score of 94 is 3 points above the typical school in the group.
0Lowest of the group 8 · middle 91 · highest 100100

How the score was worked out

The score is out of 100. A 94 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 94% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 90 to 97. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.

What we looked atHow much it countsAgainst schools like itEffect on the scoreBased on
Results over three years25%well above
+0.30
2025 and 2024 results; 89 pupils
Ofsted inspection20%above
+0.18
Ofsted grade, 1.9 years old
Progress pupils make20%above
+0.13
Contextualised attainment (no DfE progress measure available); 89 pupils
Direction of travel over five years0%no data
Attendance and behaviour10%well above
+0.19
2024/25; 544 pupils
Results, allowing for the mix of pupils10%above
+0.06
Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 89 pupils
What parents say0%no data

Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.

Questions parents ask

Is Dorridge Primary School a good school?

Yes, going by the figures. Dorridge Primary School scores 94 out of 100. That is well above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 90 to 97, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.

What is Dorridge Primary School's Ofsted rating?

Ofsted rated Dorridge Primary School not judged at its last full inspection on 8 October 2024.

How good are Dorridge Primary School's SATs results?

In summer 2025, 78% of Year 6 children reached the expected level in reading, writing and maths. Across England it was 63%. 17% went further and reached the higher level.

How many pupils does Dorridge Primary School have?

702 pupils aged 3 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 710 places, so it is 99% full.

Is Dorridge Primary School oversubscribed?

Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.

What is attendance like at Dorridge Primary School?

Pupils were in school 97.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 1% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.

How big are the classes at Dorridge Primary School?

The average class had 30.5 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 52% of classes had more than 30 pupils.

These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.

Contact and details

Address
Station Road, Dorridge, Solihull, B93 8EU
Telephone
01564 772836
Website
www.dorridge.solihull.sch.uk
Headteacher
Headteacher GemmaThelwell /JodieHales
Type of school
Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
Phase
Primary school, ages 3-11, with nursery
Gender
Mixed
Multi-academy trust
Arden Multi Academy Trust (6 schools)
Local authority
Solihull
Ward
Dorridge and Hockley Heath
Constituency
Meriden and Solihull East
Setting
Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
Opened
1 September 2023 (academy converter)
URN
149928 · LAESTAB 3342008 · UKPRN 10092908
Formerly
Dorridge Primary School

Where these figures come from