Willenhall Community Primary School

Willenhall Community Primary School is a larger-than-average primary in a deprived area, with high proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils receiving SEN support. The school is generally performing at the expected standard across curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Safeguarding standards are met. Leaders are accurate about strengths and priorities, staff feel well supported, and the school has a warm, inclusive and nurturing culture. Pupils behave well, feel safe, and benefit from a broad personal development offer and strong pastoral support. The main concerns are achievement and attendance. Too many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, do not achieve well enough in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2, leaving them less prepared for secondary school. Recent curriculum improvements are helping younger pupils and beginning to close gaps for older pupils, but these improvements have not yet affected end of key stage 2 test outcomes. Some teaching tasks are not precisely matched to the intended learning, which can waste learning time. Attendance is also a significant issue. Although leaders monitor attendance effectively and some targeted work is helping individual pupils, too many pupils do not attend regularly enough, and persistent absence is well above national averages. Leaders know this and are taking appropriate action, but their intervention work is still at an early stage. Overall, the school has notable strengths in inclusion, personal development, leadership and behaviour, but must continue to improve achievement in core subjects and attendance.

Strengths

• Leaders accurately evaluate curriculum strengths and priorities and take appropriate action to improve provision.
• Oracy opportunities across the curriculum help pupils build language and vocabulary.
• Staff adapt lessons well for pupils with SEND and those with lower starting points.
• Disadvantaged pupils are well supported to access intervention and a rich range of experiences.
• Early years provision is warm, nurturing and language-rich, helping children settle quickly and progress well.
• Inclusion practices are effective, with swift identification of needs and strong support for vulnerable pupils.
• The Bridge provision offers a well-matched curriculum for pupils with complex SEND.
• Leaders, governors and the local authority work closely together to improve standards.
• Staff speak positively about leaders' support for workload, wellbeing and professional development.
• Personal development is comprehensive and tailored, with purposeful trips, clubs and community opportunities.
• Pastoral support is proactive and responsive, helping pupils feel safe and thrive.
• Behaviour across the school is consistently calm and orderly, and bullying is dealt with effectively.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Pupils achieve well in the wider curriculum and speak confidently about their learning.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils do not achieve well enough in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2.
• Many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, have gaps in core knowledge that leave them less prepared for secondary school.
• Recent curriculum improvements have not yet improved pupils' end of key stage 2 test outcomes.
• Sometimes staff do not precisely match tasks to the intended learning, leading to lost learning time.
• Too many pupils do not attend school regularly enough.
• Persistent absence is well above the national average.
• Leaders' work to intervene and improve attendance is still at an early stage.

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 Willenhall Community Primary School attended 91.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 25.6% 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, 4.3% of pupils at Willenhall 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 Willenhall Community Primary School had 20.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.8% 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, 27.7% of pupils at Willenhall Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.3% 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 Willenhall Community Primary School received £8,071 and spent £8,252 for each of its 435 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £882,000 (£2,028 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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• Secondary Schools

All schools in Coventry · Coventry local authority: places and applications

What is Willenhall Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Willenhall Community Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Willenhall Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Willenhall Community Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Willenhall Community Primary School have?

Willenhall Community Primary School has 452 pupils on roll.

What age range does Willenhall Community Primary School cover?

Willenhall Community Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 48% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Willenhall Community Primary School?

Willenhall Community Primary School is at St James Lane, Coventry, West Midlands, CV3 3DB.