Hunton Church of England Primary School

Hunton Church of England Primary School is a small church primary school with 107 pupils. Inspectors found the school performing strongly across achievement, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Safeguarding standards are met. Pupils achieve well, including in key stage 2 national tests, and all groups make secure progress. The curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced, teaching is consistently effective, and early years provision gives children a positive start. Inclusion is a notable strength, with robust systems to identify needs and support vulnerable pupils. Pupils are described as delightful and behaviour is excellent, with serious incidents including bullying very rare. Leaders have high expectations, staff morale is positive, and governance is committed. Pupils benefit from a rich personal development offer, including enrichment, leadership roles and strong pastoral support. The main area for improvement is attendance. Attendance has been below the national average in recent years and persistent absence remains above average, although both are improving. Leaders focus on attendance and work with families, but early intervention is not consistently tracked or evaluated to demonstrate impact. Governors also need to sharpen their support and challenge on attendance and other school priorities. Overall, this is a strong school with a clear improvement culture and one key area to strengthen further.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve well, with high attainment in key stage 2 national tests and secure progress across the curriculum.
• Teaching is consistently effective and inclusive, with strong subject knowledge and well-judged questioning.
• The curriculum is coherent, ambitious and logically sequenced, including careful planning for mixed-age classes.
• Early years provision is carefully structured and helps children make a very positive start to school.
• Inclusion is a clear strength, with rigorous systems to identify needs and support vulnerable pupils.
• Leadership and governance are strong, with high expectations, effective staff development and committed governors.
• Personal development and wellbeing provision is rich, inclusive and builds pupils' confidence and resilience.
• Pupils' behaviour is excellent, and serious behaviour incidents including bullying are very rare.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of enrichment, leadership roles and strong pastoral support.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance has been below the national average in recent years, although it is improving.
• Persistent absence remains above the national average.
• Leaders do not consistently track or evaluate early attendance interventions to demonstrate their impact.
• Governors' support and challenge need to be more sharply focused on attendance and other identified school priorities.

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 Hunton Church of England Primary School attended 93.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.9% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Hunton Church of England 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 Hunton Church of England Primary School had 19.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.6% 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, 12.3% of pupils at Hunton Church of England Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.8% 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 Hunton Church of England Primary School received £7,929 and spent £7,966 for each of its 106 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £37,000 (£351 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 Maidstone · Kent local authority: places and applications

What is Hunton Church of England Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hunton Church of England Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Hunton Church of England Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Hunton Church of England Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Hunton Church of England Primary School have?

Hunton Church of England Primary School has 106 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hunton Church of England Primary School cover?

Hunton Church of England Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Hunton Church of England Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 69% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Hunton Church of England Primary School?

Hunton Church of England Primary School is at Bishops Lane, Hunton, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 0SJ.