Southway Junior School

Southway Junior School is a caring and welcoming junior school where pupils feel safe, behave well and achieve high standards. Inspectors found the school good across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Relationships between pupils and staff are positive, attendance is high, and safeguarding is effective. The school offers a broad and ambitious curriculum, promotes reading well, and provides a wide range of trips, music and sport to enrich pupils' experience. Pupil voice and responsibility are strong features of school life. There are clear strengths in leadership and governance. Leaders have reviewed the curriculum collaboratively, staff value the attention to workload and wellbeing, and governors both support and challenge leaders. Recent leadership changes, including a headteacher appointed in April 2024, have been navigated well. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. Some aspects still need development. Recent curriculum changes are not fully embedded in all subjects, and implementation varies, so pupils' knowledge is less secure in those areas. Some pupils with SEND and some disadvantaged pupils struggle to access learning because foundational knowledge gaps are not always addressed and teaching adaptations do not fully meet their needs.

Strengths

• Caring and welcoming environment where pupils feel safe and well looked after
• Pupils behave well, are polite and friendly, and attendance is high
• Broad and ambitious curriculum with well-sequenced learning in many subjects
• Strong reading culture, including the 100 book challenge and buddy readers
• Effective support helps weaker readers and pupils with phonics gaps catch up quickly
• Ongoing training ensures teachers are secure in subject-specific knowledge
• Effective systems identify pupils with SEND, with some successful adaptations
• Rich personal development covering mental health, online safety and diversity
• Wide range of trips, music and sports opportunities broaden pupils' horizons
• Pupils take on responsible roles such as values visionaries, litter leaders and bird hide monitors
• Governors balance holding leaders to account with supporting them well
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Recent curriculum changes are not fully embedded in some subjects
• Implementation of the curriculum varies, so pupils' knowledge is less secure in some areas
• Some pupils with SEND and some disadvantaged pupils struggle to learn well
• Curriculum thinking and teaching adaptations do not always fully account for pupils' needs
• Some pupils lack secure foundational knowledge needed to complete lesson activities

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 Southway Junior School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.0% 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, 0.3% of pupils at Southway 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 Southway Junior School had 23.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.8% 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, 14.4% of pupils at Southway Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.9% 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 Southway Junior School received £5,929 and spent £6,038 for each of its 362 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £58,000 (£159 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 Burgess Hill · West Sussex local authority: places and applications

What is Southway Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Southway Junior School is Good, from an inspection in February 2025.

When was Southway Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Southway Junior School was last inspected in February 2025.

How many pupils does Southway Junior School have?

Southway Junior School has 362 pupils on roll.

What age range does Southway Junior School cover?

Southway Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

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

In 2025, 73% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Southway Junior School?

Southway Junior School is at Southway, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 9SU.