Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School

Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School is not currently providing pupils with an acceptable quality of education. Inspectors found serious weaknesses in curriculum delivery, early years and phonics, support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and leadership capacity, alongside too much low-level disruption in lessons. Pupils' outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6 in 2024 were well below national averages, and weaknesses remain in several year groups. The school has experienced significant staff and leadership turbulence, which has affected continuity, behaviour and achievement, and the governing body, local authority and NEC board have not worked collectively enough to secure timely improvement. The school has been judged to require special measures.

Strengths

• Personal development is promoted well, with effective pastoral support that helps pupils feel safe.
• Pupils speak highly of the adults who provide pastoral support.
• Pupils understand and appreciate the diverse society in which they live and know the importance of equality and fundamental British values.
• Pupils feel safe and learn how to keep themselves safe, including online.
• Pupils say bullying is not tolerated and that staff quickly resolve minor incidents.
• Attendance is prioritised and managed well, with rigorous follow-up on absences.
• Pupils enjoy visits and clubs, including chess, choir and drumming, and trips for pupils with perfect attendance.
• The curriculum is coherent and well designed overall, providing a solid structure in all subjects.
• The school has effective systems to identify pupils with SEND.
• Reading cafés and daily story time encourage a culture of reading, and phonic books are appropriately matched to pupils' abilities.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education is inadequate and pupils are not benefiting from an acceptable standard of education.
• Teaching in most subjects is variable and does not follow the intended curriculum closely enough.
• Lessons do not systematically build on prior learning or check what pupils know and can do.
• Outcomes in 2024 external tests at the end of Year 6 were well below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The early years curriculum, including phonics, is not implemented well and children get off to a poor start in early reading.
• Some staff lack sufficient subject knowledge to teach phonics effectively.
• Activities in early years continuous provision often lack a clear learning focus.
• Pupils with SEND are not consistently well supported or fully included in lessons.
• Staff do not adapt teaching sufficiently for pupils with SEND, including pupils with complex learning difficulties in the school's 'hub'.
• Low-level disruption occurs too frequently because expectations of behaviour and teaching are sometimes too low.
• Leaders' oversight of individual subjects is weak due to a lack of permanent and experienced staff.
• Staff do not receive the support they need to develop their expertise.
• The governing body, local authority and NEC board have not worked collectively enough to address weaknesses in a timely or sustained way.
• Recent external support and strategic reviews have not yet had the necessary impact on achievement and attitudes to learning.
• The school has insufficient staff capacity and expertise to provide leadership across the full range of subjects.
• The school may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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 Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School attended 95.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.1% 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, 1.8% of pupils at Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist 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 Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School had 16.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.7% 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, 18.1% of pupils at Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.2% 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 Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School received £10,092 and spent £12,018 for each of its 138 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £880,000 (-£6,374 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

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What is Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School is Inadequate, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School last inspected by Ofsted?

Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School have?

Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School has 138 pupils on roll.

What age range does Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School cover?

Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 50% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School?

Harper Bell Seventh-day Adventist School is at 29 Ravenhurst Street, Camp Hill, Birmingham, West Midlands, B12 0EJ.