Harold Wood Primary School

Harold Wood Primary School has maintained the effective standards identified in its previous inspection and continues to provide a happy and welcoming environment for its pupils. Relationships between staff and students are nurturing, contributing to the pupils' positive behavior and impressive engagement in school activities. However, while the school leadership is taking action to address underperformance in reading and mathematics, some Year 6 outcomes were not up to national standards last year, indicating that students may not be fully prepared for the next stage in their education.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy their learning and demonstrate excellent attitudes towards their education.
• The school maintains high expectations for pupils' behavior, resulting in impeccable conduct.
• Strong emphasis on early reading with systematic phonics instruction leading to increased fluency.
• Teachers exhibit secure subject knowledge and explain concepts clearly.
• Wide range of extra-curricular clubs and opportunities for student leadership.
• Effective safeguarding measures are in place and recognized.
• Close collaboration with families to support attendance and remove barriers.

Areas for Improvement

• Some subjects lack effective mapping of knowledge and skills year-on-year.
• Teachers occasionally do not check pupils' understanding sufficiently, leading to gaps in learning.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Harold Wood Primary School attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 1.1% of pupils at Harold Wood Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Harold Wood Primary School had 23.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.1% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 10.0% of pupils at Harold Wood Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Harold Wood Primary School received £7,529 and spent £7,564 for each of its 641 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £90,000 (£140 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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What is Harold Wood Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Harold Wood Primary School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Harold Wood Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Harold Wood Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Harold Wood Primary School have?

Harold Wood Primary School has 641 pupils on roll.

What age range does Harold Wood Primary School cover?

Harold Wood Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Harold Wood Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 52% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Harold Wood Primary School?

Harold Wood Primary School is at Recreation Avenue, Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, RM3 0TH.