Pear Tree Community Junior School, Derby

Ofsted's report card from its 14 July 2026 inspection grades Pear Tree Community Junior School on 6 areas: 4 expected standard and 2 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders have strengthened the school's approach to identifying and tackling poor attendance."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "The school has a diverse pupil population."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "The recently appointed senior leadership team has an astute understanding of the school's context."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Pupils benefit from a well-organised and ambitious personal development programme."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, do not achieve as well as they should."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "There are some inconsistencies in the curriculum and teaching that mean that pupils do not achieve as well as they should."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that pupils' outcomes, as reflected in national assessments at the end of key stage 2, improve so that they are closer to national figures"; "The school should continue and embed its work to tackle absence so that rates of attendance are closer to national averages"; "Leaders should ensure that teachers consistently check what pupils already know, use this information to adapt teaching and check closely how well pupils are getting on in lessons"; "The school should complete its work to ensure that gaps in pupils' core knowledge are systematically identified and addressed"; "Leaders should ensure that the curriculum, across all subjects, consistently makes clear the precise content that children are expected to know and remember at each stage of their education"; "The school should ensure that the targets that are set for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make clear the precise goals that pupils are expected to achieve each term".

From the headteacher's welcome: "Pear Tree Community Junior is located in the Pear Tree area to the south of Derby City Centre. The school takes pupils from the ages of 7-11 across four year groups (Year 3 to 6). The vast majority of our pupils transfer from Pear Tree Infant School, that shares the same site."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, tennis, basketball, multi-sports and cooking.

In 2025, 46% of Year 6 pupils at Pear Tree Community Junior School reached the expected standard in reading and 44% in maths. At the average state primary the figures were 72% and 70% in Derby and 77% and 75% across England.

Results rose from 37% in reading and 42% in maths in 2024.

Across Derby, 94% of families were offered their first-choice primary school for 2026 entry, and 99% were offered one of the schools they named.

In 2026, families in Derby lodged 312 appeals against primary school offers; 223 reached a hearing and 35 succeeded (15.7% of those heard).

The nearest other state primary schools to Pear Tree Community Junior School are Pear Tree Infant School (under 0.1 miles, Good); Hardwick Primary School (0.4 miles, Outstanding, 58% reading, 46% maths); Arboretum Primary School (0.4 miles, Good, 57% reading, 60% maths); and Village Primary Academy (0.5 miles, Good, 66% reading, 72% maths).

Each of them had higher 2025 results than Pear Tree Community Junior School.

Pear Tree Community Junior School is one of 27 schools run by Transform Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's primary schools, 59% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2024/25.

79.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 82.8% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Asian (28%), Black (6%) and White British (6%).

In 2026, 61 pupils (17.2%) received SEN support and 4 (1.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is a moderate learning difficulty.

The nearest railway station is Peartree Rail Station, about 590 metres away (roughly a 7-minute walk).

8 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Vulcan (adjacent), 250 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Pear Tree Community Junior School stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 763 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and public order offences. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Derby (267), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Pear Tree Community Junior School issued 10 suspensions, 2.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.