Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is a small primary where pupils enjoy school, attend well and feel valued. Inspectors found provision to be consistently good across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years, with safeguarding arrangements effective. The school has revised and refined an ambitious, broad curriculum over three years, and pupils are increasingly achieving its aims. Reading and phonics are well established, pupils with SEND are fully included, early years provision prepares children well for Year 1, and strong community and church links enrich pupils' experiences. Leaders are ambitious, outward-facing and supportive of staff, who feel valued. The main area for improvement is curriculum delivery in some subjects. The school has not agreed how best to teach the content consistently, so staff sometimes use their own preferred approaches, which can confuse pupils and cause them to lose focus. Behaviour has improved and pupils know the school's golden rule, but behaviour can still vary in lessons and hamper learning. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took the pandemic's impact into account.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school, attend well and feel valued.
• The curriculum is rich, broad and ambitious, with meaningful links to prior learning.
• Pupils are achieving the ambitions of the curriculum with increasing success.
• Staff check pupils' understanding effectively and support those who fall behind.
• Pupils with SEND are fully included and learn the breadth of the curriculum.
• Phonics and reading are well established, with trained staff and targeted support.
• Pupils enjoy reading and benefit from the improved library.
• Early years provision is effective and prepares children well for Year 1.
• The behaviour policy and golden rule are consistently applied by staff.
• Pupils have many leadership roles, clubs, sports and enrichment opportunities.
• Strong community and church partnerships enhance pupils' learning.
• Leaders know the school well, are ambitious and invest in staff development.
• Staff feel valued and are proud to be part of the team.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, the school has not agreed how to deliver curriculum content consistently.
• Staff sometimes use their own preferred approaches, which are not always familiar to pupils.
• Pupils can become confused and lose focus when curriculum delivery is inconsistent.
• Pupils' behaviour can vary in lessons, which hampers their 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 Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School attended 95.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.8% 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 Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided 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 Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School had 16.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 13.6% of pupils at Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.9% 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 Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School received £7,426 and spent £7,341 for each of its 103 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £63,000 (£611 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).

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What is Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School have?

Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School has 103 pupils on roll.

What age range does Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School cover?

Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School?

Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School is at School Road, South Walsham, Norwich, Norfolk, NR13 6DZ.