Bude Primary Academy - Juniors

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors is a happy, welcoming and inclusive junior school within the Aspire Academy Trust, with a specially resourced provision for pupils with complex SEND. Inspectors found the school good across the key judgements and described it as rapidly improving after a period of turbulence, high staff turnover and leadership change that had stalled progress and affected pupils’ achievements in 2024. Since the appointment of the new headteacher, leaders and the trust have raised expectations, embedded curriculum changes and put achievement back on an upward trajectory. The curriculum is now better sequenced and matched to pupils’ needs, including in the SEND provision, and pupils are achieving increasingly well. Reading is a particular priority, with a robust programme and effective support helping pupils learn to read rapidly. Pupils behave well, feel safe and benefit from strong personal development and a wide range of accessible experiences. There are still areas to improve. Assessment is not used consistently well to identify and close gaps in pupils’ knowledge, and some older pupils still have gaps in some subjects. Attendance remains below average, and the school’s work to improve it has had limited impact overall, although absence has reduced slightly.

Strengths

• Happy, welcoming and inclusive school with positive staff-pupil relationships
• Pupils show strong attitudes to learning and behave well around school
• Bullying is rare and pupils trust staff to resolve issues quickly
• High expectations for pupils academically and behaviourally
• Staff know pupils individually and adapt learning to interests and starting points, including for pupils with SEND
• Curriculum is well sequenced with explicit links across subjects
• Reading is prioritised highly and pupils learn to read rapidly
• Pupils’ wider development is promoted well through accessible clubs, trips and events
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment is not used consistently well to identify gaps in pupils’ learning
• Some older pupils still have gaps in knowledge that persist in some subjects
• Overall attendance remains below average despite slight reductions in absence
• The school’s work to improve attendance has had limited impact overall

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 Bude Primary Academy - Juniors attended 93.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 20.1% 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, 2.2% of pupils at Bude Primary Academy - Juniors 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 Bude Primary Academy - Juniors had 19.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.5% 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, 22.6% of pupils at Bude Primary Academy - Juniors were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 8 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 Bude Primary Academy - Juniors received £8,618 and spent £8,240 for each of its 225 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £68,000 (£303 per pupil).

Across all 38 schools of Aspire Academy Trust, income was £7,450 and spending £7,448 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 Bude · Cornwall local authority: places and applications

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors is part of Aspire Academy Trust, which runs 38 schools. The nearest others:

• Bude Primary Academy - Infants Bude
• Warbstow Primary Academy Launceston
• Tintagel Primary School Tintagel
• Delabole Primary School Delabole
• St Minver School Wadebridge
• St Breock Primary School Wadebridge
• Padstow School Padstow
• Bugle School St Austell
• Mawgan-In-Pydar Primary School Newquay
• Treverbyn Academy St Austell

What is Bude Primary Academy - Juniors's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bude Primary Academy - Juniors is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Bude Primary Academy - Juniors last inspected by Ofsted?

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Bude Primary Academy - Juniors have?

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors has 230 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bude Primary Academy - Juniors cover?

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Bude Primary Academy - Juniors's SATs (KS2) results?

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

Where is Bude Primary Academy - Juniors?

Bude Primary Academy - Juniors is at Broadclose Hill, Bude Primary Juniors, Bude, Cornwall, EX23 8DR.