Mead Vale Community Primary School

Mead Vale Community Primary School is a welcoming, happy and inclusive school where pupils are well behaved and positive about learning. Inspectors found the school performing well across most areas, with a particularly strong early years provision that is exceptionally well planned and tailored to children’s needs. The rich, broad curriculum and effective teaching help most pupils achieve well, and reading is a clear strength: children start learning to read early, phonics is taught well, and pupils receive swift support to catch up when needed. Pastoral care is highly effective, and staff have strong relationships with pupils and parents. Pupils feel safe, trust adults, and benefit from focused support where needed, including for pupils with SEND. The school also provides a wide range of personal development opportunities, and pupils take on responsibilities such as play leaders and librarians. The trust and governors support the school well, and staff morale is high. The main area for improvement is assessment. In a minority of cases, teachers do not make effective use of assessment information because learning activities do not take sufficient account of pupils’ starting points. This means some pupils, including some with SEND, do not learn the curriculum as successfully as they could. The school is part of the Extend Learning Academies Network, and the headteacher was appointed after the previous inspection, when the school was graded requires improvement. Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Strengths

• Welcoming, happy and inclusive school with strong values of courage, curiosity and community
• High expectations for pupils and effective teaching that helps most achieve well
• Rich, broad and inspiring curriculum
• Exceptionally well-planned and sequenced early years provision
• Strong communication and language development in early years
• Effective phonics teaching and a strong reading culture across subjects
• Swift identification and support for pupils who need extra help with reading
• Highly effective pastoral support and strong relationships with pupils and parents
• Good support for pupils with SEND, who learn the same curriculum as their peers
• Pupils are sociable, well-mannered and behave well
• High-quality support for pupils’ mental and physical well-being
• Wide range of clubs and experiences that support personal development
• Pupils take on positions of responsibility and help younger pupils
• Trust and governors support the school well, and staff morale is high
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment is not routinely used well enough to take account of pupils’ starting points in all subjects
• In a minority of cases, learning activities are not precisely adapted to pupils’ needs
• Some pupils, including some with SEND, do not learn the curriculum as successfully as they could because of this assessment weakness

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 Mead Vale Community Primary School attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.1% 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, 1.5% of pupils at Mead Vale Community 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 Mead Vale Community Primary School had 20.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 5.0% 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, 33.0% of pupils at Mead Vale Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.9% 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 Mead Vale Community Primary School received £8,287 and spent £8,365 for each of its 203 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £100,000 (£492 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of Extend Learning Academies Network, income was £7,731 and spending £7,803 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 Weston-Super-Mare · North Somerset local authority: places and applications

Mead Vale Community Primary School is part of Extend Learning Academies Network, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• Mendip Green Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Milton Park Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Locking Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Bournville Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Walliscote Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Windwhistle Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Oldmixon Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• Banwell Primary School Banwell

What is Mead Vale Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Mead Vale Community Primary School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Mead Vale Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Mead Vale Community Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Mead Vale Community Primary School have?

Mead Vale Community Primary School has 203 pupils on roll.

What age range does Mead Vale Community Primary School cover?

Mead Vale Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Mead Vale Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Mead Vale Community Primary School?

Mead Vale Community Primary School is at Kestrel Drive, Worle, Weston-Super-Mare, BS22 8RQ.