Emmbrook Junior School

Emmbrook Junior School is a junior school within The Circle Trust and has a resourced provision for pupils with hearing impairment. At this full inspection, the school met the expected standard in each evaluated area and met safeguarding requirements. Pupils are proud of their welcoming, inclusive school, behave well, attend regularly and benefit from a broad, well-sequenced curriculum. Reading is a particular strength, and outcomes are above national in several subjects, including reading and mathematics at the expected standard, with many pupils reaching higher standards in mathematics. The communication base and wider SEND provision are notable strengths, enabling pupils who are deaf and pupils with SEND to learn alongside their peers and take part fully in school life. Leaders are clear about priorities, support staff well, and trustees provide effective challenge and support. The main areas for development concern the precision of assessment and the consistency of foundational skills. In some lessons, staff do not identify or address misconceptions quickly enough, so a few pupils move on before securing key knowledge. Handwriting is being strengthened but is not yet consistently applied across learning. Attendance is positive overall and persistent absence is low, although a small group of disadvantaged pupils still attend less regularly than their peers. Published outcomes for disadvantaged pupils also show notable gaps, particularly in combined reading, writing and mathematics and in writing, although mathematics was a relative strength in the most recent year. Some recent improvements are not yet fully embedded across the school. Overall, this is a secure and inclusive school with clear capacity to improve further.

Strengths

• Strong inclusive culture where pupils feel valued and believe difference is accepted.
• Effective communication base for deaf pupils, fully integrated into school life.
• High-quality SEND support that helps pupils access the full curriculum.
• Reading is a particular strength, with pupils becoming confident, fluent readers.
• Pupils attain above national figures in many subjects, including reading and mathematics.
• Broad, well-sequenced curriculum with a consistent teaching approach.
• Pupils behave well, are polite, respectful and contribute to a calm atmosphere.
• Bullying is rare and pupils trust staff to resolve concerns quickly.
• Attendance is positive overall, with persistent absence below national averages.
• Effective pastoral care and wellbeing support, including strong transition arrangements.
• Leaders have a clear understanding of strengths and priorities and take effective action.
• Trustees provide effective support and use stakeholder feedback to inform decisions.
• Pupils benefit from wide enrichment, leadership roles and community activities.
• Personal development curriculum helps pupils stay safe, healthy and respectful.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils do not build securely on prior learning because misconceptions are not always identified and addressed quickly enough.
• Assessment is not consistently precise enough to identify gaps before pupils move on to new learning.
• Handwriting is still being strengthened and is not yet applied consistently across pupils' learning.
• A small group of disadvantaged pupils attend less regularly than their peers.
• Disadvantaged pupils' combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes are below national, with large gaps in writing and combined measures.
• Some school improvements are not yet fully embedded across the school.

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 Emmbrook Junior School attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.5% 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, 1.2% of pupils at Emmbrook Junior 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 Emmbrook Junior School had 21.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 5.2% 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, 11.9% of pupils at Emmbrook Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 4 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 Emmbrook Junior School received £6,027 and spent £6,089 for each of its 258 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £41,000 (£159 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of The Circle Trust, income was £6,360 and spending £6,297 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 Wokingham · Wokingham local authority: places and applications

Emmbrook Junior School is part of The Circle Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Emmbrook Infant School Wokingham
• The Emmbrook School Wokingham
• The Hawthorns Primary School Wokingham
• Wescott Infant School Wokingham
• Westende Junior School Wokingham
• St Crispin's School Wokingham
• Nine Mile Ride Primary School Wokingham
• Shinfield Infant and Nursery School Reading
• Owlsmoor Primary School Sandhurst
• Badgemore Primary School Henley-On-Thames

What is Emmbrook Junior School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Emmbrook Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Emmbrook Junior School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Emmbrook Junior School have?

Emmbrook Junior School has 260 pupils on roll.

What age range does Emmbrook Junior School cover?

Emmbrook Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Emmbrook Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 71% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Emmbrook Junior School?

Emmbrook Junior School is at Emmbrook Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 1JR.