Thornbury Primary School

Thornbury Primary is an inclusive and welcoming school with a diverse community, strong pastoral care and an effective safeguarding culture. Pupils behave well, treat each other respectfully and benefit from good personal development, leadership and early years provision. The school also has specially resourced provision for pupils with speech, language and communication needs, and pupils in this provision learn alongside their peers. However, the quality of education requires improvement. The curriculum has been recently revised, but the precise knowledge pupils need is not identified consistently across all subjects, and teaching subject knowledge is variable. As a result, pupils sometimes struggle to recall and apply learning, and too many leave without the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage. The school’s feedback approach, ‘RIDE’, is not yet having the intended impact, and improvements are too recent to have affected published outcomes. Leadership is a strength: governors and trustees challenge and support the school effectively, staff feel well supported, and the trust works closely with the school. The school has experienced significant staffing and senior leadership changes over the last two years, and this was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strengths

• Inclusive culture where all pupils are welcome and learn together
• Pupils behave well and treat each other respectfully
• Strong pastoral care and positive relationships between staff, pupils and families
• Safeguarding culture is a strength of the school
• Early years provision is well matched to children’s starting points
• Phonics is well implemented and early reading is prioritised
• SEND provision meets many pupils’ needs well, including bespoke support
• Enrichment visits, visitors and clubs broaden pupils’ experiences
• Governors and trustees challenge and support the school effectively
• Staff feel well supported by leaders

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement
• Curriculum knowledge is not broken down precisely enough in all subjects
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is variable across the curriculum
• Expectations of pupils are not consistently high enough
• Learning activities do not always help pupils to think more deeply
• The ‘RIDE’ feedback approach is not clearly understood or effectively used
• Pupils’ pride and presentation in their work are sometimes lacking
• Too many pupils leave without the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage
• The school does not accurately evaluate the impact of improvement changes on pupils’ knowledge
• Trust monitoring and evaluation processes need development

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 Thornbury Primary School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.4% 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, 1.3% of pupils at Thornbury 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 Thornbury Primary School had 20.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 26.2% 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, 17.2% of pupils at Thornbury Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 9.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 2 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 Thornbury Primary School received £7,040 and spent £7,262 for each of its 301 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £52,000 (£173 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Connect Academy Trust, income was £6,766 and spending £6,801 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 Plymouth · Plymouth local authority: places and applications

Thornbury Primary School is part of Connect Academy Trust, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• Leigham Primary School Plymouth
• Eggbuckland Vale Primary School Plymouth
• Widey Court Primary School Plymouth
• Manadon Vale Primary School Plymouth
• Haytor View Community Primary School Newton Abbot
• Preston Primary School Torquay
• Cockington Primary School Torquay
• Eden Park Primary & Nursery School Brixham

What is Thornbury Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Thornbury Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Thornbury Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Thornbury Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Thornbury Primary School have?

Thornbury Primary School has 279 pupils on roll.

What age range does Thornbury Primary School cover?

Thornbury Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Thornbury Primary School?

Thornbury Primary School is at Miller Way, Estover, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 8UL.