Eden Park Academy

Eden Park Academy is a small, inclusive primary and nursery school within The Harbour Schools Partnership, serving a disadvantaged local area with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and SEN support. Safeguarding standards are met. The school is particularly strong in inclusion and in leadership and governance, with tenacious leaders, precise support for vulnerable pupils, strong staff development, and positive relationships with families and the community. Pupils are calm, respectful, feel safe, and benefit from an ambitious curriculum, strong reading and mathematics teaching, and excellent pastoral care. Across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, and personal development, the school is meeting expected standards. Pupils generally achieve in line with peers in reading and mathematics by the end of Year 6, and disadvantaged pupils often outperform national peers in those subjects, but combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes remain below national average, largely because writing is weaker and not yet fully embedded. Attendance is improving but overall absence remains above national average, and leaders recognise more work is needed on regularity and punctuality. The main priorities are to continue improving attendance and punctuality and to further embed the writing curriculum and teaching so outcomes at the end of Year 6 improve. Early years also needs to strengthen early writing opportunities. The school's inclusive culture, leadership, governance, and pastoral support are notable strengths, and staff, pupils and parents speak highly of the school.

Strengths

• Highly inclusive culture with personalised, timely support for SEND, disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils.
• Tenacious leaders and staff precisely identify pupils' needs and build warm relationships.
• Relentless leadership drives sustainable improvements and high standards.
• Trust board and local governors provide rigorous challenge and effective support.
• Strong professional development and staff wellbeing; staff feel valued and heard.
• Close, trusting relationships with parents, carers and the community.
• Pupils are calm, respectful and eager to learn.
• Pupils feel safe and say bullying is rare and dealt with quickly.
• Ambitious curriculum is adapted well for pupils with additional needs.
• Strong reading teaching from Reception helps pupils decode and read fluently.
• Mathematics curriculum builds number fluency and times tables knowledge.
• Oracy and vocabulary are prioritised across the curriculum.
• Early years language-led curriculum and high-quality interactions support children well.
• Excellent pastoral care helps pupils manage emotions and build resilience.
• Wide personal development programme broadens horizons and develops life skills.
• Disadvantaged pupils often perform as well as school peers and better than national peers in reading and mathematics.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive culture.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance and punctuality still need to improve so more pupils attend regularly and on time.
• Overall absence remains above national average, although improving.
• Writing outcomes at the end of Year 6 remain below national average and need further embedding across the school.
• Early years opportunities for early writing activities need strengthening to improve children's preparedness.
• Combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes are below national average.
• Disadvantaged pupils' writing gap remains substantial.

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 Eden Park Academy attended 93.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.7% 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, 3.7% of pupils at Eden Park 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 Eden Park Academy had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 23.9% 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, 21.2% of pupils at Eden Park Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% 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 2023–24 Eden Park Academy received £8,875 and spent £8,606 for each of its 134 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £170,000 (£1,268 per pupil).

Across all 29 schools of The Harbour Schools Partnership, income was £6,848 and spending £6,935 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 Barnstaple · Devon local authority: places and applications

Eden Park Academy is part of The Harbour Schools Partnership, which runs 36 schools. The nearest others:

• Newport Community School Primary Academy Barnstaple
• Ashleigh CofE Primary School Barnstaple
• The Park Community School Barnstaple
• Orchard Vale Community School Barnstaple
• Pilton Community College Barnstaple
• Landkey Community Primary Academy Barnstaple
• Sticklepath Community Primary Academy Barnstaple
• Holywell Church of England School Barnstaple
• Roundswell Community Primary Academy Barnstaple
• Shirwell Community Primary School Barnstaple

What is Eden Park Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Eden Park Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Eden Park Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Eden Park Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Eden Park Academy have?

Eden Park Academy has 118 pupils on roll.

What age range does Eden Park Academy cover?

Eden Park Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Eden Park Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 54% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Eden Park Academy?

Eden Park Academy is at Eden Park Academy, Forches Avenue, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 8EF.