Highcliffe St Mark Primary School

About Highcliffe St Mark Primary School

Highcliffe St Mark Primary School’s most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024 rated the school as Requires Improvement overall, a downgrade from the Good rating it held in its previous inspection in 2013. The inspection report highlights that while the quality of education and leadership and management both require improvement, the school continues to perform well in other areas: early years provision, personal development, and behaviour and attitudes were all judged Good. On the academic front, the most telling metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which stands at 67 per cent. That is four percentage points above the local authority average of 63 per cent for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, placing the school 22nd out of 50 primary schools in the area. This suggests that despite the overall Ofsted rating, the school is delivering solid academic outcomes for the majority of its pupils.

Looking more closely at the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the school’s strengths are clearest in reading, where 81 per cent of pupils met the expected standard and 38 per cent achieved a higher standard. In maths, 78 per cent reached the expected level, with an average score of 105, and 23 per cent hit the higher benchmark. Writing is slightly behind, with 75 per cent at the expected standard and 21 per cent at the higher level. Nationally, the school ranks in the 40th percentile, and within the South West region it sits in the 34th percentile. The school does not publish progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to compare how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. However, the raw attainment figures show a school that is broadly in line with or slightly ahead of local averages, particularly in reading.

Highcliffe St Mark is a Church of England primary school with nursery provision for children aged three to eleven. It is a popular choice locally: for the 2025/26 academic year, the school received 151 applications for 90 places, with 98 first-preference applications and 87 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.68. The school offers a wide range of facilities including a Forest School, art studios, music rooms, a sensory room, a library and a chapel. Sports provision covers rounders, dance, gymnastics, athletics, netball and cricket, while clubs include coding, gardening and drama. The school has a strong SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families who value a broad curriculum and strong SEND support, but who are comfortable with a school that is actively working through an improvement journey.

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