Beechwood Primary Academy

Beechwood Primary Academy is a good school in all inspected areas. Pupils are happy and feel safe in a caring environment, behaviour is strong, and classrooms are calm and purposeful. The school has a broad, ambitious curriculum, effective phonics and reading provision, improved attendance, and a well-developed personal development programme. Safeguarding is effective. It is part of Discovery Multi Academy Trust and has had leadership change; new leaders, supported by the trust, have addressed historical issues affecting achievement. The main area for improvement is support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Identification is effective and most SEND pupils access the full curriculum, but support is inconsistent. Some staff are not trained well enough to use SEND information or adapt work, so some pupils do not engage fully or make the progress they are capable of. The trust must ensure all staff are suitably trained to provide effective SEND support. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and followed a previous good grade. Inspectors did not give an overall effectiveness grade under the current framework, but all key judgements were good. Early years provision is also good, and leaders have successfully tackled previous weaknesses in behaviour, attendance and phonics.

Strengths

• Warm, caring relationships help pupils feel safe and well supported.
• Early years children settle quickly into routines and are well prepared for key stage 1.
• Pupils are polite, well mannered and behave well in lessons and social times.
• A broad, ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum supports most pupils to achieve well.
• Effective assessment identifies errors and misconceptions early.
• Phonics is delivered effectively, with reading books matched to pupils' knowledge.
• Leaders have successfully addressed historic behaviour and attendance issues.
• Personal development is well developed, including leadership roles and extracurricular clubs.
• Staff benefit from regular training and trust-wide collaboration.
• Governors and trustees are ambitious and hold leaders to account.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Support for pupils with SEND is variable and sometimes ineffective.
• Some staff are not sufficiently trained to adapt work to pupils with SEND, limiting their engagement and progress.

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 Beechwood Primary Academy attended 92.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 21.3% 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, 3.0% of pupils at Beechwood 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 Beechwood Primary Academy had 23.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 51.3% 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, 17.7% of pupils at Beechwood Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.6% 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 Beechwood Primary Academy received £8,487 and spent £8,283 for each of its 256 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £666,000 (£2,602 per pupil).

Across all 3 schools of Discovery Multi Academy Trust, income was £8,088 and spending £8,406 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

Beechwood Primary Academy is part of Discovery Multi Academy Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Oakwood Primary Academy Plymouth
• Weston Mill Community Primary Academy Plymouth

What is Beechwood Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Beechwood Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Beechwood Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Beechwood Primary Academy was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Beechwood Primary Academy have?

Beechwood Primary Academy has 249 pupils on roll.

What age range does Beechwood Primary Academy cover?

Beechwood Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 34% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Beechwood Primary Academy?

Beechwood Primary Academy is at 31 Rockfield Avenue, Southway, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 6DX.