Downshall Primary School

Downshall Primary School is a large, multicultural primary school within New Vision Trust. Inspectors found it performing well overall, with most areas judged strong. Pupils achieve above national averages by the end of Year 6 in combined reading, writing and mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND make significant progress from their starting points. The curriculum is broad, ambitious and taught very well, with systematic early reading and strong subject knowledge across staff. The school's personal development offer is a notable strength. Pupils show maturity, respect and responsibility, and the intergenerational project helps vulnerable pupils build empathy, confidence and social skills. Behaviour is calm and positive, pupils are polite and attentive, and staff feel well supported. Inclusion is effective, with prompt identification of SEND and bespoke support, though leaders are still refining how precisely they monitor the impact of that support. Attendance, early years and inclusion are not as strong as the school's other areas. Attendance is improving but persistent absence remains above the national average, and a small number of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, do not attend regularly enough. In the early years, some staff interactions do not consistently deepen children's language, so some children do not yet use new vocabulary confidently. The next steps are to sharpen SEND monitoring, strengthen early years language interactions, and continue improving attendance for key groups and across the school.

Strengths

• Curriculum is broad, ambitious and carefully sequenced.
• Teaching is very strong, with excellent staff subject knowledge.
• Early reading and phonics provision is systematic and highly effective.
• Pupils achieve above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics by Year 6.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND make significant progress from their starting points.
• Personal development programme is coherent, rich and highly effective.
• Intergenerational project builds empathy, confidence, teamwork and resilience.
• Leadership and governance are strong, responsive and well informed.
• Staff value professional development and feel highly supported.
• Pupils behave well, are polite and respectful, and bullying is very rare.
• Inclusion systems identify SEND needs quickly and provide effective support.
• Enrichment, trips and extra-curricular activities broaden pupils' experiences.
• Safeguarding standards are met.

Areas for Improvement

• A small number of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, do not attend regularly enough.
• Persistent absence remains above the national average.
• Overall attendance still needs further improvement.
• Early years staff interactions do not consistently extend children's language.
• Some children do not yet apply new vocabulary with confidence.
• Monitoring of SEND support strategies needs greater precision to refine provision.

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 Downshall Primary School attended 93.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 22.7% 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, 0.9% of pupils at Downshall 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 Downshall Primary School had 21.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.6% 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, 13.6% of pupils at Downshall Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.6% 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 Downshall Primary School received £7,394 and spent £7,112 for each of its 510 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £439,000 (£861 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of New Vision Trust, income was £8,687 and spending £8,330 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 Redbridge · Redbridge local authority: places and applications

Downshall Primary School is part of New Vision Trust, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Nelson Primary School London
• Vicarage Primary School London
• Elmhurst Primary School London
• Gallions Primary School London

What is Downshall Primary School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Downshall Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Downshall Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Downshall Primary School have?

Downshall Primary School has 501 pupils on roll.

What age range does Downshall Primary School cover?

Downshall Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 76% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Downshall Primary School?

Downshall Primary School is at Meads Lane, Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, IG3 8UG.