Burley Primary School

About Burley Primary School

Burley Primary School is a small state primary in the New Forest area of Hampshire, serving 92 pupils aged 4 to 11. Within the local authority, it ranks 241st out of 425 primary schools, placing it in the bottom half of schools in the county. The top-performing peers in the area include Preston Candover Church of England Primary School, Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary School, and St Faith's Church of England Primary School, all of which sit at the other end of the rankings. Burley itself is a community school with no religious character, led by headteacher Mathew Bowen. Its most recent Ofsted inspection, in December 2024, saw the school judged Good across the board, with a notable Outstanding rating for early years provision. This marks a clear improvement from its previous inspection in June 2022, when the school was rated Requires Improvement overall. The school is oversubscribed for 2025/26, with 16 applications for just 7 places and an oversubscription ratio of 2.29, suggesting strong local demand despite its middling ranking.

Academically, Burley's Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 show a mixed picture. The percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 50%, below the Hampshire local authority average of 61%. In individual subjects, reading and writing both saw 81% of pupils reach the expected standard, while maths was lower at 50%. At the higher standard, 13% of pupils achieved in reading, 6% in maths, and none in writing or across all three subjects combined. The school's average scaled scores were 105 in reading and 100 in maths. Nationally, Burley ranks in the bottom 50% of schools on the KS2 expected standard metric, sitting at the 79th percentile in the South East region. The school's Ofsted report notes that behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management are all rated Good, with early years provision standing out as Outstanding.

The school offers a range of facilities including music rooms, an ICT suite, art studios, a gymnasium, a sports hall, a sensory room, and a chapel. Sports on offer include netball, cricket, dance and athletics, while clubs range from book club and drama to choir, chess, film club and eco club. For SEND, the school supports pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs, as well as autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses, based on 50 respondents, are largely positive: 94% would recommend the school, and strong majorities agree or strongly agree that their child is happy (92%), feels safe (94%), and does well (94%). However, 10% of parents disagreed that concerns are dealt with properly, and 10% disagreed that bullying is dealt with quickly and effectively, though 64% said bullying was not applicable to their child. This is a small, improving village school that suits families looking for a close-knit environment with strong early years provision and a good range of activities, but one where academic outcomes currently lag behind the local average.

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