Highfield Primary School

Highfield Primary School is a large, inclusive primary where pupils achieve well and behave exceptionally well. Inspectors found that pupils master key knowledge, especially in mathematics, and that writing is strong across the curriculum. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are well supported, including through the school’s additionally resourced autism provision and Dali class for younger pupils with complex needs. Attendance is close to average, persistent absence is falling, and safeguarding arrangements meet the required standard. The school’s personal development offer is a notable strength, with a well-planned curriculum, visits, clubs, leadership roles and wellbeing support. Leaders have a credible record of improvement, governance is effective, and parents speak highly of the school. However, provision is not yet uniformly strong: teaching approaches are not consistently embedded across all subjects and phases, including for pupils with SEND, and phonics and early years practice sometimes fall short of the school’s best. The main priorities are to make highly effective teaching consistent across all subjects and phases, strengthen phonics progression in the early years, and ensure staff use every opportunity for high-quality interactions that build young children’s knowledge and vocabulary. Overall, this is a strong school with clear, focused areas for further refinement rather than significant weakness.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve above average Year 6 outcomes, especially in mathematics.
• Writing is high quality across the curriculum, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve greater depth at higher rates than disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Behaviour is excellent in class and around school, and bullying is extremely rare.
• Attendance is broadly close to average and persistent absence is declining and below average.
• SEND identification and support are strong, including in the resourced provision and Dali class.
• The personal development curriculum is well planned, including online safety, faith understanding and wellbeing support.
• A wide range of clubs and leadership roles ensures broad participation, including for vulnerable pupils.
• Leaders have a track record of continuous improvement and governance is effective.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture of safeguarding.

Areas for Improvement

• Highly effective teaching approaches are not consistently embedded across all subjects and phases.
• Teaching for pupils with SEND is not always as consistent across year groups and provisions.
• Phonics teaching in the early years does not always move children on to new letters and sounds as quickly as it could.
• Early years staff do not always maximise high-quality interactions to close children’s knowledge and vocabulary gaps.
• Tasks are occasionally not well selected to support pupils’ learning as effectively as they could be.

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 Highfield Primary School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.0% 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 Highfield 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 Highfield Primary School had 23.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.0% 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, 14.0% of pupils at Highfield Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.2% 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 Highfield Primary School received £7,350 and spent £7,409 for each of its 662 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £34,000 (£51 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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All schools in Enfield · Enfield local authority: places and applications

What is Highfield Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Highfield Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Highfield Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Highfield Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Highfield Primary School have?

Highfield Primary School has 672 pupils on roll.

What age range does Highfield Primary School cover?

Highfield Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Highfield Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 76% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Highfield Primary School?

Highfield Primary School is at Highfield Road, Highfield Primary School, London, N21 3HE.