Shaw Primary Academy

Shaw Primary Academy is a happy, inclusive school where pupils feel safe, behave well and achieve strongly. Inspectors found high expectations across the curriculum, effective reading and early years provision, strong support for pupils with SEND, and exceptional personal development opportunities that broaden pupils' experiences and prepare them well for life in modern Britain. Staff feel supported, governance is effective, and safeguarding arrangements are secure. The main area for improvement is the curriculum in a couple of foundation subjects, where essential subject-specific knowledge has not been clearly identified or sequenced. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge and skills in those subjects. The school is a standalone academy, and this was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic; under the current framework it does not receive an overall effectiveness grade.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite, respectful and accepting of differences, with rare low-level disruption.
• The school has high expectations and an ambitious, broad and balanced curriculum.
• Reading is prioritised from the early years, with effective phonics and support for pupils who need to catch up.
• Children get off to a strong start in the early years and are well prepared for Year 1.
• Pupils with SEND are well identified and supported to learn the same curriculum as their peers.
• Personal development provision is exceptional, with extensive enrichment opportunities for all pupils.
• Staff feel supported, workload and well-being are considered, and governance is effective.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In a couple of foundation subjects, essential subject-specific knowledge and sequencing are not clearly identified, leaving gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills.

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 Shaw Primary Academy attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.2% 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 Shaw Primary Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Shaw Primary Academy had 20.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.0% 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, 10.2% of pupils at Shaw Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.4% 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 Shaw Primary Academy received £7,070 and spent £6,870 for each of its 396 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £370,000 (£936 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 South Ockendon · Thurrock local authority: places and applications

What is Shaw Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Shaw Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Shaw Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Shaw Primary Academy was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Shaw Primary Academy have?

Shaw Primary Academy has 391 pupils on roll.

What age range does Shaw Primary Academy cover?

Shaw Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 82% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Shaw Primary Academy?

Shaw Primary Academy is at Avon Green, South Ockendon, Essex, RM15 5QJ.