Mulberry West St Leonards Primary

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary is performing well overall. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school is strong in attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, and early years provision. Pupils are calm, engaged and inclusive; attendance has risen to national levels and persistent absence has fallen considerably. The curriculum is ambitious and consistent, with particularly strong reading and writing, and the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND is well integrated into school life. Achievement, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development are at expected standard, with several positive features including improving key stage 2 outcomes, effective trust transition, and strong staff and parental support. The main areas for development are not about basic provision but about precision and consistency. Leaders do not yet analyse inclusion and pupil premium data sharply enough to evaluate which strategies are working for which groups or to make timely adaptations. The personal development and wellbeing programme is well considered, but leaders do not consistently track participation in the wider offer or evaluate how deeply pupils learn all aspects of the programme. Pupils' knowledge in religious education and fundamental British values is less developed, and recall of prior learning in the wider curriculum varies. The school joined the Mulberry Schools Trust in March 2026 and has a resourced provision for 17 pupils with physical disabilities and/or moderate learning difficulties, all with EHC plans. Inspectors found an inclusive ethos, high staff confidence in leaders, and a clear commitment to continuous improvement.

Strengths

• Attendance is rising, now in line with national averages, and persistent absence has declined considerably.
• Behaviour is calm and purposeful, with pupils highly engaged and bullying rare and dealt with quickly.
• The curriculum is ambitious and well structured, with strong consistency in reading, writing, handwriting and mathematics.
• Teaching is inclusive and skilfully supports pupils from the specially resourced SEND provision to access learning alongside peers.
• Early years provision is consistent and effective, building vocabulary, phonics, mathematics and writing well.
• Key stage 2 outcomes improved in 2025, and disadvantaged pupils outperformed non-disadvantaged peers nationally in writing.
• Inclusion is central to the school's identity, with SEND pupils fully included and effective work with external agencies.
• Leadership provides clear direction, the trust transition has been managed well, and staff have high confidence in leaders.
• Personal development is supported by a progressive PSHE curriculum, strong pastoral care, and valuable enrichment and leadership opportunities.
• Pupils feel safe, have a strong sense of belonging, and show highly inclusive attitudes.

Areas for Improvement

• Inclusion-related data analysis is not precise enough to evaluate the impact of strategies on different pupil groups or to inform timely adaptations, including in the pupil premium strategy.
• Systems to evaluate the personal development and wellbeing programme are not robust, including tracking how well pupils learn and which key groups participate in the wider offer.
• Pupils' knowledge in religious education and fundamental British values is less developed and lacks depth.
• Recall of prior learning in the wider curriculum varies over time, although leaders have introduced approaches to address this.
• Some published outcomes in reading and mathematics remain below national averages over the latest three-year period, and disadvantaged pupils' mathematics outcomes lag behind.

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 Mulberry West St Leonards Primary attended 93.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.6% 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, 0.2% of pupils at Mulberry West St Leonards Primary 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 Mulberry West St Leonards Primary had 20.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 2.9% 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, 12.9% of pupils at Mulberry West St Leonards Primary were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 10 pupils.

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 Mulberry West St Leonards Primary received £6,856 and spent £7,528 for each of its 417 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £10,000 (£23 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of Mulberry Schools Trust, income was £9,786 and spending £9,651 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 St Leonards-On-Sea · East Sussex local authority: places and applications

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary is part of Mulberry Schools Trust, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Mulberry Academy St Leonards St Leonards-On-Sea
• Mulberry Silverdale Primary St Leonards-On-Sea
• Mulberry Baird Primary Hastings
• Bexhill High Academy Bexhill-On-Sea
• Mulberry Academy Hastings Hastings
• Mulberry Wood Wharf Primary School London
• Mulberry Academy London Dock London
• Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College London
• Mulberry School for Girls London
• Mulberry Canon Barnett Primary Academy London

What is Mulberry West St Leonards Primary's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Mulberry West St Leonards Primary is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Mulberry West St Leonards Primary last inspected by Ofsted?

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Mulberry West St Leonards Primary have?

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary has 417 pupils on roll.

What age range does Mulberry West St Leonards Primary cover?

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Mulberry West St Leonards Primary's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 60% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Mulberry West St Leonards Primary?

Mulberry West St Leonards Primary is at Harley Shute Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN38 8BX.