Hart Plain Junior School

Hart Plain Junior School is an average-sized community junior school for pupils aged 7 to 11. Following its June 2025 graded inspection, the quality of education and leadership and management require improvement, while behaviour and attitudes and personal development are good. Safeguarding is effective. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and the inspection was paused and completed later. The school has notable strengths in pastoral care and personal development. Pupils feel safe, behave well and respect staff and each other, and they benefit from a calm and purposeful environment. Support for pupils with SEND is thoughtfully identified and met, and pupils have opportunities to contribute to school life. Mathematics and science are stronger than other subjects because the curriculum is better sequenced and teachers identify and address gaps. Pupils also benefit from enrichment, life-skills learning and an enhanced swimming programme. However, too many pupils do not yet read well enough, including some disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. The phonics programme is well planned but not delivered effectively, struggling readers do not get the support they need, and reading books do not closely match the sounds pupils know. In most other subjects, curriculum content is not clearly defined or sequenced and staff subject and pedagogical knowledge are inconsistent, so pupils do not build secure knowledge across the full curriculum. Leaders and governors recognise the issues and are beginning to act, but further improvement is needed.

Strengths

• Strong pastoral support and a high priority on keeping pupils safe
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Good behaviour and a calm, purposeful school environment
• Personal development is a strength, including life skills and valuing difference
• Thoughtful identification and meeting of SEND needs
• Well-sequenced mathematics and science curricula where pupils achieve well
• Enrichment visits, life-skills learning and an enhanced swimming programme
• Pupils feel valued and have opportunities to make a difference to school life

Areas for Improvement

• Early reading teaching is not effective enough, so struggling readers do not catch up quickly
• Additional reading books do not closely match the sounds pupils know
• Too many pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, cannot read sufficiently well for their age
• Curriculum content is not clearly defined or sequenced in most subjects from Year 3 to Year 6
• Staff subject and pedagogical knowledge are not consistently strong across subjects
• Work in some subjects does not enable pupils to develop detailed understanding or demonstrate what they know and can do
• Leaders have not yet secured consistently effective early reading or curriculum delivery across the school

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 Hart Plain Junior School attended 94.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.6% 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, 10.4% of pupils at Hart Plain 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 Hart Plain Junior School had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.3% 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, 32.4% of pupils at Hart Plain Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.3% 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 Hart Plain Junior School received £9,164 and spent £9,546 for each of its 179 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £339,000 (£1,894 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 Waterlooville · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

What is Hart Plain Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hart Plain Junior School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Hart Plain Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Hart Plain Junior School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Hart Plain Junior School have?

Hart Plain Junior School has 179 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hart Plain Junior School cover?

Hart Plain Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Hart Plain Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

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

Where is Hart Plain Junior School?

Hart Plain Junior School is at Hart Plain Avenue, Cowplain, Waterlooville, Hampshire, PO8 8SA.