School Chooser

Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery

Primary · ages 2-11MixedCouncil201 pupilsNursery Free breakfast clubDurhamCounty Durham
School Chooser Score
17
Below
similar schools
Likely range 8 to 35
Out of 100. Better than 28% of the 50 schools most like it. Much the same over the last five years.
OfstedGoodConfirmed by Ofsted, December 2023
Reached the expected level at 1152%England 63%
Attendance93.8%England 94.8%
Pupils from low-income families44%Far more than most schools
Places9 spare201 pupils, 210 places
Pupils per teacher18.0School workforce census

Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery is a council school in Durham for boys and girls aged 2 to 11. It has 201 pupils and room for 210. About 44 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 17 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 28% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.

Durham Road, Ushaw Moor, Durham Road, Ushaw Moor, Durham, Durham, DH7 7LF0191 373 0622silvertreeprimary.co.ukMrs Helen Grainger head teacherAll details

What Ofsted found

A shorter visit on 6 December 2023 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.

Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.

Results

Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025

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

Reached the expected level at 1152%
England 63%
Official name: Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Working above the expected level7%
England 8%
Official name: Higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Reading score102.0
England 105.6
Official name: Reading average scaled score
Maths score103.0
England 104.6
Official name: Maths average scaled score
Trend
Reached the expected level at 11
2017 to 2025
2017: 61%61%20172018: 50%50%20182019: 73%73%20192023: 50%50%20232024: 41%41%20242025: 52%52%2025
Since 2017: -9%Steady overall
All Year 6 measures, year by year
Measure202520242023201920182017County DurhamEngland
Pupils tested292228262823
Reached the expected level at 11Expected standard in reading, writing and maths52%41%50%73%50%61%62%63%
Working above the expected levelHigher standard in reading, writing and maths7%0%4%23%11%9%8%8%
Reading scoreReading average scaled score102.0100.0104.0108.0103.0106.0105.2105.6
Maths scoreMaths average scaled score103.0104.0102.0105.0103.0104.0104.1104.6
Grammar and spelling scoreGPS average scaled score102.0102.0102.0110.0106.0106.0104.9105.2
Expected level: readingReading expected standard72%50%75%88%68%65%
Expected level: mathsMaths expected standard69%64%61%77%64%65%
Expected level: writingWriting expected standard (teacher assessed)66%59%64%88%82%70%
Reading progressReading progress score-1.7+2.1-0.8+3.5
Maths progressMaths progress score-3.5-1.0-0.8+1.3
Expected level: low-income pupilsExpected standard, disadvantaged44%36%38%50%36%43%
Expected level: other pupilsExpected standard, non-disadvantaged64%50%60%93%64%89%

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.

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. Every gap at this school 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
44%64%
Gap 20 ptsEngland 21 pts
Reached the expected level at 11Boys vs girls
53%50%
Gap 3 ptsEngland 5 pts
Reached the higher level at 11Low-income pupils vs all pupils
6%7%
Gap 1 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.

Plenty of spare places173 pupils for 210 places, 2024/25
82% full

37 places were empty (18% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have stayed about the same since 2021/22.

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 County Durham 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 roll201Census January 2026
Places21096% full
Pupils from low-income families39%44% have had free school meals at some point in the last six years
Pupils learning English8%First language is not English
Pupils getting extra support20%40 pupils with SEN support
Pupils with an EHC plan6%11 pupils with a plan
Average class size23.98 classes, January 2026; England 25.4
Classes with more than 30 pupils13%Infant classes are capped at 30 by law; England 10%
Pupils with extra funding (pupil premium)41%£105,400 extra funding in 2026/27; England 24%
Boys and girls97 / 104
White British pupils89%

Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 27.3 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 22.5 (England 27.3).

The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (35), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (4), emotional and mental health (4), Other difficulty or disability (3), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), Hearing impairment (1).

How the mix of pupils has changed
Census202620252024202320222021
Pupils on roll201209193169180180
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals39%39%43%50%49%47%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language8%9%10%8%7%6%
Pupils getting extra supportSEN support20%19%17%19%18%
Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans4%2%2%2%1%

Attendance and behaviour

In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.8% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.

Attendance93.8%
England 94.8%
Official name: 100 minus overall absence
Pupils missing a lot of school16.8%
England 12.8%
Official name: Persistent absence
Suspensions per 100 pupils7.72024/25, no permanent exclusions
Missed without permission1.0%of school time, 2024/25
Attendance year by year
Measure2024/252023/242022/232021/222020/212018/19England
Sessions missedOverall absence6.2%6.5%6.0%6.2%3.8%3.5%5.2%
Missed with permissionAuthorised absence5.2%5.4%5.0%5.4%3.3%3.0%
Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence1.0%1.1%1.0%0.8%0.5%0.6%
Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence16.8%19.5%21.7%19.5%11.8%4.5%12.8%
SuspensionsSuspension rate7.711.44.10.00.0
Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions00000

Staff and money

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

Teachers10.5full-time equivalent, 11 people
Pupils per teacher18.0Pupils for every full-time teacher
Fully qualified teachers91%hold qualified teacher status
Teaching assistants12.7full-time equivalent
Average teacher pay£50,451
Teachers who left in the year11%2024/25, for any reason including retirement
Vacancies0
Sick days per teacher5.22024/25

Money

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

Spend per pupil£7,785England £7,738. Total £1.5m
Income per pupil£8,185England £7,697. Total £1.6m
Spent on teachers per pupil£3,212England £3,480
Money in reserve8%A healthy amount put by: £135k, £683 per pupil. England 6%
Money in against money out+£79kit took in more than it spent this year
Where the money goes£7,785spent 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 m35612 months to June 2026, mostly violence and sexual offences
Local crime rate110 per 1,000 people21% higher than the England average
Typical house price£143,000County Durham
Nearest bus stop100 mMethodist Church, 23 stops within 500 m

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
Our Lady & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Ushaw MoorAcademy80 m98Requires improvement 20232Compare
New Brancepeth Primary AcademyAcademy0.7 miles109No overall grade 202489Compare
Bearpark Primary SchoolCouncil0.8 miles105Good 202417Compare
Langley Park Primary SchoolAcademy1.8 miles183Requires improvement 20245Compare
Langley Moor Primary SchoolCouncil1.8 miles195Good 202276Compare
Neville's Cross Primary School and NurseryCouncil1.9 miles277Good 202471Compare
St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Langley MoorAcademy2.0 miles66No overall grade 202578Compare
Brandon Primary AcademyAcademy2.0 miles280No overall grade 202444Compare

Compared with schools like it

Our score compares Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery with the 46 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 46 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.

Beats28%of schools with a similar mix of pupils
In the lower half of its group. Its score of 17 is 14 points below the typical school in the group.
0Lowest of the group 1 · middle 30 · highest 89100

Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher

Of those 46 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.

SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary SchoolAcademy12.1 miles191Good 202377Compare
Lord Blyton Primary SchoolCouncil15.3 miles229Report card 202637Compare

How the score was worked out

The score is out of 100. A 17 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 17% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 8 to 35. 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%below
-0.18
2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 29 pupils
Ofsted inspection20%in line
+0.01
Ofsted grade, 2.8 years old
Progress pupils make20%below
-0.20
DfE progress measure; 29 pupils
Direction of travel over five years10%in line
-0.02
results and attendance falling year on year
Attendance and behaviour10%below
-0.06
2024/25; 155 pupils
Results, allowing for the mix of pupils10%below
-0.04
Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 29 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 Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery a good school?

The figures are weak. Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery scores 17 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 28% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 8 to 35, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.

What is Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery's Ofsted rating?

Ofsted rated Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery good at its last full inspection on 6 December 2023.

How good are Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery's SATs results?

In summer 2025, 52% of Year 6 children reached the expected level in reading, writing and maths. Across England it was 63%. 7% went further and reached the higher level.

How many pupils does Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery have?

201 pupils aged 2 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 210 places, so it is 96% full.

Is Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery oversubscribed?

Probably not. 37 places were empty in 2024/25 (18% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.

What is attendance like at Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery?

Pupils were in school 93.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 17% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.

How big are the classes at Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery?

The average class had 23.9 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 13% of classes had more than 30 pupils.

Does Silver Tree Primary School and Nursery have a breakfast club?

Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.

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

Contact and details

Address
Durham Road, Ushaw Moor, Durham Road, Ushaw Moor, Durham, Durham, DH7 7LF
Telephone
0191 373 0622
Website
www.silvertreeprimary.co.uk
Head Teacher
Mrs Helen Grainger
Free breakfast club
Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
Type of school
Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
Phase
Primary school, ages 2-11, with nursery
Gender
Mixed
Local authority
County Durham
Ward
Deerness
Constituency
City of Durham
Setting
Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
Opened
1 September 2006 (result of amalgamation)
URN
123350 · LAESTAB 8403519 · UKPRN 10075601
Formerly
Ushaw Moor Junior School, Ushaw Moor Infant School

Where these figures come from