Daven Primary School

Daven Primary School is a small mixed-age primary in Congleton, part of The Learning Partnership Academies Trust, serving a pupil population with high proportions of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with EHC plans. The school is judged to be performing at the expected standard across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development, with safeguarding standards met. Leaders have a clear, ambitious vision, and inclusion is a notable strength: pupils with different needs and starting points are well supported, and disadvantaged pupils achieve well in mathematics and reading.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture of safeguarding and pupils feeling safe.
• Leaders have a clear and ambitious vision, and trust, governance and school leadership work well together.
• Inclusion is strong, with effective systems to identify needs and support disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Pupils behave well, bullying is rare, and suspension rates have fallen considerably.
• The early years provision is well established, including the recent 2-year-old nursery expansion, and children achieve well.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious and well sequenced for mixed-age classes.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as, and sometimes better than, disadvantaged pupils nationally, particularly in mathematics.
• Personal development is comprehensive, with pupils learning about safety, health, relationships and British values.
• Staff know pupils well, provide strong pastoral care, and pupils feel happy, cared for and safe.
• Leaders prioritise staff wellbeing and workload, creating a positive team ethos.

Areas for Improvement

• Support for pupils who struggle with basic number skills is less effective, limiting fluency in calculations.
• Some older pupils find mathematical calculations more difficult.
• Pupils do not always have enough opportunities to think deeply or apply their knowledge across the wider curriculum.
• Teachers' subject expertise needs strengthening so that higher standards are consistently embedded across all areas.
• Overall attendance is improving but remains below the national average.
• Persistent absence is above the national average, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Historical phonics outcomes declined, although current pupils are making the progress needed to read confidently.

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 Daven Primary School attended 91.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 26.8% 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, 10.6% of pupils at Daven 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 Daven Primary School had 16.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.7% 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, 17.5% of pupils at Daven Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.9% 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 Daven Primary School received £9,694 and spent £9,953 for each of its 142 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £27,000 (£188 per pupil).

Across all 15 schools of The Learning Partnership Academies Trust, income was £7,536 and spending £7,682 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 Congleton · Cheshire East local authority: places and applications

Daven Primary School is part of The Learning Partnership Academies Trust, which runs 15 schools. The nearest others:

• Black Firs Primary School Congleton
• Congleton High School Congleton
• Castle Primary School Stoke-On-Trent
• Dove Bank Primary School Stoke-On-Trent
• Wheelock Primary School Sandbach
• Sir William Stanier School Crewe
• Cheshire Studio School Crewe
• Crewe Engineering and Design UTC Crewe
• Leighton Academy Crewe
• The Oaks Academy Crewe

What is Daven Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Daven Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Daven Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Daven Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Daven Primary School have?

Daven Primary School has 137 pupils on roll.

What age range does Daven Primary School cover?

Daven Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 61% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Daven Primary School?

Daven Primary School is at New Street, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 3AH.