Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School

Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School is a caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe and supported. Following recent leadership changes, including a new headteacher in September 2024, leaders have acted decisively to improve behaviour, curriculum and inclusion. Pupils’ behaviour and attendance have improved, with suspensions falling significantly and persistent absence decreasing. The school has a calm, purposeful environment, and staff and pupils share warm relationships. Safeguarding arrangements are effective and the school meets the safeguarding standards. The quality of education is generally at the expected standard, with a well-designed curriculum and increasingly confident teaching. Inclusion is a strength: pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are accurately identified and well supported, and disadvantaged pupils are increasingly well served, though the gap in their achievement remains a priority. Personal development and wellbeing are well provided for, with a rich programme of enrichment, mental health support and pupil leadership opportunities. However, pupils’ achievement is uneven, particularly in writing. Too many pupils do not secure basic skills in handwriting, spelling and punctuation, and some curriculum changes are not yet fully embedded. Teaching is not consistently effective at identifying and correcting errors, so gaps persist. National assessment outcomes at the end of key stage 2 are improving and close to average, but disadvantaged pupils still lag behind. Leaders know what needs to be done and have made this a priority.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met with an open culture.
• Pupils feel safe, cared for and supported.
• Attendance has improved and persistent absence has decreased.
• Behaviour has improved significantly, with fewer suspensions.
• Classrooms are calm and purposeful places to learn.
• Curriculum and teaching have been strengthened with clear knowledge sequencing.
• Staff are increasingly skilled at adapting learning for pupils with SEND.
• Inclusion is strong, with accurate identification of needs and timely interventions.
• Disadvantaged pupils are increasingly well supported and the achievement gap is narrowing.
• Leadership is ambitious and improvement actions are making a positive impact.
• Staff morale is high and leaders support wellbeing.
• Governance is effective, with governors providing appropriate challenge and support.
• The personal development and wellbeing programme is engaging and broad.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities.
• Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes and pride in the school community.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement is variable, especially in writing.
• Too many pupils lack secure basic skills in handwriting, spelling and punctuation.
• Some curriculum changes are at an early stage and not consistently embedded.
• Teaching does not always identify and correct errors quickly enough.
• Gaps in pupils’ spelling, letter formation and punctuation persist.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ achievement remains well below national non-disadvantaged averages.
• Pupils’ readiness for the next steps in learning is uneven.
• National assessment outcomes, while improving, remain close to or below average in some measures.

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 Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.9% 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, 3.4% of pupils at Harnham Church of England Controlled 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 Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School had 22.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 33.3% 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, 12.5% of pupils at Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% 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 Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School received £6,759 and spent £7,238 for each of its 265 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £176,000 (-£665 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 Salisbury · Wiltshire local authority: places and applications

What is Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School have?

Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School has 265 pupils on roll.

What age range does Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School cover?

Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School?

Harnham Church of England Controlled Junior School is at Saxon Road, Harnham, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 8JZ.