Heamoor Community Primary School

Heamoor Community Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary in Penzance, part of The Penwith Education Trust. Inspectors found a warm, caring school where pupils feel safe and proud, and where personal development and wellbeing are clear strengths. Pupils benefit from a broad range of trips, clubs and pastoral support. Reading and phonics are taught well, and pupils enjoy reading. Mathematics also performs well in the multiplication check.

Strengths

• Strong personal development and wellbeing provision, including a wide range of trips and extracurricular activities.
• Pupils feel safe, cared for and proud of their school; relationships between staff and pupils are warm and positive.
• Reading and phonics are taught well, with pupils developing fluency and a love of reading.
• Mathematics is a relative strength, with multiplication check results significantly above the national average over time.
• Effective pastoral support for pupils and families, including for bereavement and social/emotional needs.
• Positive behaviour and attitudes, with pupils following routines and reporting no concerns about bullying.
• Clear systems to identify barriers to learning and appropriate use of alternative provision.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and value training and support for their wellbeing.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching quality across the curriculum is too variable, and learning tasks do not consistently match the ambition of the curriculum.
• Some pupils do not build knowledge securely or apply it with enough depth, including pupils with SEND.
• Writing outcomes are weak, with persistent issues in handwriting, spelling and punctuation.
• Early years provision does not consistently prepare children for Year 1, particularly in writing and adult interactions.
• Support for pupils with SEND is not precise enough, and leaders do not rigorously check its impact.
• Attendance and punctuality are poor, with overall absence and persistent absence above national averages, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Leaders' actions are not leading to improvement quickly enough, and staffing changes have affected oversight.
• Governors have limited capacity and do not have a comprehensive view of the impact of leaders' work.
• Staff expectations of what pupils know and can do are too variable.

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 Heamoor Community Primary School attended 93.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.7% 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, 4.0% of pupils at Heamoor Community 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 Heamoor Community Primary School had 23.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.6% 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, 9.0% of pupils at Heamoor Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.5% 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 Heamoor Community Primary School received £7,613 and spent £7,749 for each of its 201 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £6,000 (-£31 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 Penzance · Cornwall local authority: places and applications

Heamoor Community Primary School is part of The Penwith Education Trust (Pet), which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Humphry Davy School Penzance
• Trythall Community Primary School Penzance
• St Levan Primary School Penzance
• Gwinear Community Primary School Hayle

What is Heamoor Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Heamoor Community Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Heamoor Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Heamoor Community Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Heamoor Community Primary School have?

Heamoor Community Primary School has 201 pupils on roll.

What age range does Heamoor Community Primary School cover?

Heamoor Community Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Heamoor Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Heamoor Community Primary School?

Heamoor Community Primary School is at Bosvenna Way, Heamoor, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 3JZ.