Haddenham Community Junior School

Haddenham Community Junior School is a welcoming and caring school where pupils feel safe, happy and part of a strong community. Inspectors found the school strong across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Pupils behave well, are respectful and supportive of each other, and benefit from a wide range of lunchtime activities, clubs and leadership opportunities. The curriculum has been substantially improved since the previous inspection and is now well sequenced from Year 3 to Year 6, with a particularly strong focus on reading and effective support for pupils who need extra help. There are some important areas for improvement. Work is not always adapted well enough to meet the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, which can limit how deeply they build their knowledge over time. Persistent absence remains too high for some groups because attendance is not monitored closely enough, and governors do not always have sufficient oversight of some aspects of the school’s provision to support and challenge leaders effectively. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school is a community junior school for pupils aged 7 to 11. It federated with Haddenham Community Infant School in September 2024 and now shares a governing body. This inspection was a graded inspection, and no overall effectiveness grade was issued.

Strengths

• Warm, caring relationships and a welcoming community where pupils feel safe and happy.
• Pupils are respectful, kind and supportive of one another.
• A broad range of lunchtime activities promotes pupils’ physical health and wellbeing.
• Pupils respond well to high expectations and show eagerness to learn.
• The curriculum is well sequenced and builds knowledge from Year 3 to Year 6.
• Teachers are knowledgeable and use questioning well to check pupils’ understanding.
• A sharp focus on reading includes effective phonics support and develops a love of reading.
• Behaviour systems are clear, consistent and applied fairly, and bullying is rare.
• Values-based personal development provides leadership opportunities and promotes respect for diversity.
• Staff workload and wellbeing are supported through effective training and development.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Leaders have been quick to act on areas of weakness identified at the previous inspection.

Areas for Improvement

• Work is not always adapted well enough to meet pupils’ needs, including those with SEND, limiting challenge, support and depth of knowledge.
• Persistent absence remains too high for some pupils because attendance of some groups is not monitored closely enough.
• Governors do not always have sufficient oversight of the impact of some aspects of the school’s provision.

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 Haddenham Community Junior School attended 94.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.9% 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, 2.9% of pupils at Haddenham Community Junior 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 Haddenham Community Junior School had 20.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.5% 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, 16.4% of pupils at Haddenham Community Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% 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 Haddenham Community Junior School received £6,295 and spent £6,643 for each of its 354 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £84,000 (-£238 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

All schools in Aylesbury · Buckinghamshire local authority: places and applications

What is Haddenham Community Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Haddenham Community Junior School is Good, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Haddenham Community Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Haddenham Community Junior School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Haddenham Community Junior School have?

Haddenham Community Junior School has 354 pupils on roll.

What age range does Haddenham Community Junior School cover?

Haddenham Community Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Haddenham Community Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 54% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Haddenham Community Junior School?

Haddenham Community Junior School is at Woodways, Haddenham, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP17 8DS.