Elm Tree Primary Academy
Elm Tree Primary Academy is a special free school in Wednesbury for boys and girls aged 4 to 11. It has 125 pupils and room for 126. About 46 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Friar Park Road, Wednesbury, WS10 0TB0121 285 2880elmtree.victrust.orgMs Bethany Barnsley headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 20 May 2025, 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.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
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 Sandwell council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (123), language and communications needs (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 125 | 88 | 48 | 15 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 46% | 44% | 35% | 47% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 9% | 8% | 4% | 7% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.6% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 9.4% | 10.3% | 7.2% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 8.4% | 8.5% | 5.5% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.1% | 1.8% | 1.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 21.3% | 31.1% | 16.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 4.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
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
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 schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Matthew's CofE Primary School | Church of England | 190 m | 470 | Report card 2026 | 77 | Compare |
| Cape Primary School | Council | 270 m | 488 | Good 2023 | 17 | Compare |
| Victoria Park Primary | Academy | 410 m | 604 | Good 2023 | 48 | Compare |
| Shireland Hall Primary Academy | Academy | 490 m | 661 | Report card 2026 | 92 | Compare |
| St Philip's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 640 m | 209 | Good 2024 | 20 | Compare |
| Shireland Technology Primary | Free school | 800 m | 440 | Outstanding 2023 | 97 | Compare |
| Shireland Collegiate Academy | Academy | 830 m | 1,585 | No overall grade 2024 | 72 | Compare |
| City Road Primary School | Academy | 950 m | 456 | Good 2023 | 56 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Elm Tree Primary Academy a good school?
Elm Tree Primary Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in May 2025.
What is Elm Tree Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Elm Tree Primary Academy not judged at its last full inspection on 20 May 2025.
How many pupils does Elm Tree Primary Academy have?
125 pupils aged 4 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 126 places, so it is 99% full.
What is attendance like at Elm Tree Primary Academy?
Pupils were in school 90.6% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 21% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Friar Park Road, Wednesbury, WS10 0TB
- Telephone
- 0121 285 2880
- Website
- elmtree.victrust.org
- Headteacher
- Ms Bethany Barnsley
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 4-11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Victoria Academies Trust (11 schools)
- Local authority
- Sandwell
- Ward
- Friar Park
- Constituency
- Smethwick
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2022 (academy free school)
- URN
- 149156 · LAESTAB 3337006 · UKPRN 10090868
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.