Cherrywood Community Primary School

Cherrywood Community Primary School is a happy, welcoming and highly inclusive school where pupils generally behave well, feel safe and achieve well, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Inspectors found a carefully designed curriculum, strong foundations in the early years, effective support for pupils with SEND, positive attendance work and knowledgeable governors who support leaders well. Safeguarding arrangements are effective, and staff feel well supported in managing their workload. The main areas for improvement are the teaching of phonics and reading, and the challenge of prejudicial language. Some phonics teaching is not consistently effective, so a small number of pupils do not learn new sounds or reading strategies as quickly or securely as they should. The school is swift to challenge discriminatory language when it occurs, but a very small number of pupils continue to use it, and leaders recognise that more work is needed to ensure this behaviour is successfully addressed. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took the pandemic's impact into account. The inspection was a graded inspection under the current framework, so no overall effectiveness grade was given.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and build positive, respectful friendships.
• The school is highly inclusive and supports pupils with SEND effectively.
• Pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well and develop strong reading, writing and mathematical skills.
• The curriculum is carefully designed and builds strong foundations from the early years upwards.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and explain new ideas clearly and interestingly.
• Teachers regularly check pupils' understanding and address misconceptions quickly.
• Reading is prioritised from Reception, with daily story time fostering a love of reading.
• Staff have high expectations for behaviour, and pupils generally show high levels of respect.
• Most pupils attend regularly, and the school follows up attendance concerns thoroughly.
• Governors are knowledgeable, supportive and share a clear sense of purpose with leaders.
• Staff feel highly supported in managing their workload and well-being.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Phonics teaching is not consistently effective, so some pupils do not secure new sounds or reading strategies as quickly or well as they should.
• The school's work to challenge prejudicial language is not consistently effective, and a very small number of pupils continue to use discriminatory language.

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 Cherrywood Community Primary School attended 93.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 24.0% 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, 4.1% of pupils at Cherrywood Community 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 Cherrywood Community Primary School had 19.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.1% 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, 21.0% of pupils at Cherrywood Community 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 Cherrywood Community Primary School received £8,025 and spent £7,939 for each of its 186 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £239,000 (£1,283 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 Farnborough · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

What is Cherrywood Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Cherrywood Community Primary School is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Cherrywood Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Cherrywood Community Primary School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Cherrywood Community Primary School have?

Cherrywood Community Primary School has 186 pupils on roll.

What age range does Cherrywood Community Primary School cover?

Cherrywood Community Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

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

In 2025, 44% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Cherrywood Community Primary School?

Cherrywood Community Primary School is at Mayfield Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 8LH.