Battle Primary Academy

Battle Primary Academy has improved rapidly and is now judged outstanding in every key area inspected: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school, a sponsor-led academy in The Thames Learning Trust with a new principal since its last inspection, has a clear and focused improvement vision that places pupils first while also prioritising staff workload and wellbeing. Pupils are highly positive, feel safe, attend well and show strong engagement because staff build trust and provide consistent, high-quality teaching. Leaders have created a well-sequenced curriculum from early years through Year 6, with a particular strength in early reading and phonics. Pupils with SEND and the very high proportion with English as an additional language are supported well, and disadvantaged pupils benefit visibly from the reading strategy. The wider curriculum is strong, with sport, the arts, history and enrichment activities adding breadth, and the school celebrates its multicultural community and prepares pupils well for the next stage. Inspectors found no significant areas of weakness. Safeguarding arrangements are effective, parents are largely positive, and pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are excellent. The report notes that, as a graded inspection from September 2024, no overall effectiveness grade was awarded, but every relevant judgement was outstanding.

Strengths

• Rapid improvement with outstanding judgements across all inspected areas
• Clear, focused leadership vision from trust through to school level
• Consistent, high-quality curriculum delivery across all phases
• Strong early reading and phonics programme, especially effective for disadvantaged pupils
• High expectations and strong support for pupils with SEND and EAL
• Pupils are highly positive, feel safe and attend well
• Excellent behaviour and attitudes, with pupils unafraid to make mistakes
• Broad, ambitious wider curriculum with strong sport, arts and history provision
• Rich enrichment and educational visits that pupils remember
• Inclusive, multicultural community ethos that prepares pupils well for next stage
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Positive relationships with parents and carers

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 Battle Primary Academy attended 95.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.8% 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 Battle Primary Academy 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 Battle Primary Academy had 20.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 30.5% 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, 20.4% of pupils at Battle Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.6% 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 2024–25 Battle Primary Academy received £6,720 and spent £6,276 for each of its 441 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,631,000 (£3,699 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of The Thames Learning Trust, income was £7,763 and spending £7,300 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Battle Primary Academy is part of The Thames Learning Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Reading Girls' School Reading
• Ashford Hill Primary School Thatcham
• Highwood Copse Primary School Newbury
• Phoenix Infant Academy Slough
• Baylis Court School Slough

What is Battle Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Battle Primary Academy is Outstanding, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Battle Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Battle Primary Academy was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Battle Primary Academy have?

Battle Primary Academy has 456 pupils on roll.

What age range does Battle Primary Academy cover?

Battle Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Battle Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Battle Primary Academy?

Battle Primary Academy is at Cranbury Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG30 2TD.