Avening Primary School

Avening Primary School is a small school within the Athelstan Multi Academy Trust. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors found the school performing well overall, with personal development and wellbeing judged strong and the other main areas—achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, and leadership and governance—meeting expected standards. Pupils are happy, safe, attend well above national averages, and benefit from a broad enrichment offer. Outcomes are broadly in line with national expectations, including phonics and Year 6 tests, with particular pride in multiplication tables. The school's strengths include a highly regarded personal development programme, strong pastoral and mental health support, positive relationships, and effective leadership that is well supported by the trust and governors. Staff morale is high, and parents are overwhelmingly positive. The school is also inclusive, with effective support for disadvantaged pupils and a growing SEND population. Leaders' next steps focus on sharpening assessment use in lessons so that learning is consistently matched to pupils' needs, and on increasing choice, independence, and depth of learning in the early years. There are also occasional concerns that some pupils with SEND do not always receive precise enough support, and that teaching does not always adapt well enough when checks reveal gaps. Overall, this is a strong, well-led school with no urgent improvement concerns.

Strengths

• Strong personal development and wellbeing provision, developed with parents and focused on mental health.
• Comprehensive pastoral support and an open safeguarding culture where pupils feel safe.
• Pupils demonstrate the school values and benefit from a wide enrichment offer, trips, and leadership roles.
• Pupils achieve broadly in line with national expectations, with strong phonics and multiplication tables outcomes.
• Attendance is above national averages, with persistent absence below national averages.
• Behaviour expectations are high and consistently applied; classrooms are purposeful and bullying is rare.
• The curriculum is sequential and builds knowledge over time, with effective phonics teaching and strong early reading.
• Early years provision is nurturing and language-rich, with effective adaptation for children's needs, including SEND.
• The school is inclusive and responds effectively to growing SEND numbers, using funding and alternative provision well.
• Leadership and governance are effective, with strong trust support, staff wellbeing, and overwhelmingly positive parental views.

Areas for Improvement

• Teachers do not consistently use checks on pupils' learning to adapt next steps, leading to variable learning experiences.
• Some pupils with SEND do not always receive precise enough support to reduce barriers consistently.
• Early years children have too few opportunities to choose their own play, access resources independently, and extend their learning.

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 Avening Primary School attended 96.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.5% 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, 2.8% of pupils at Avening Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Avening Primary School had 18.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 24.3% of pupils at Avening Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 11.2% 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 2024–25 Avening Primary School received £8,347 and spent £8,307 for each of its 107 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £43,000 (£399 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of The Athelstan Trust, income was £7,641 and spending £7,380 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 Cotswold · Gloucestershire local authority: places and applications

Avening Primary School is part of The Athelstan Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Sir William Romney's School Tetbury
• Leighterton Primary School Tetbury
• Malmesbury School Malmesbury
• Chipping Sodbury School Bristol
• Bradon Forest School Swindon
• The Dean Academy Lydney
• Charter Primary School Chippenham
• Abbeyfield School Chippenham
• Kings Lodge Primary School Chippenham

What is Avening Primary School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Avening Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Avening Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Avening Primary School have?

Avening Primary School has 107 pupils on roll.

What age range does Avening Primary School cover?

Avening Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

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

Where is Avening Primary School?

Avening Primary School is at High Street, Avening, Avening Primary School, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 8NF.