Poulner Junior School

About Poulner Junior School

If you're considering Poulner Junior School for your child, the parent feedback is a strong place to start. In the most recent Parent View survey, covering responses from September 2024 to September 2025, a very high 93% of parents would recommend the school. That's a confident signal from the 88 families who responded. The school is also popular in practical terms: with 271 pupils on roll against a capacity of 288, it's running close to full, though not oversubscribed to the point of a formal waiting list. Parents report particularly high satisfaction with the range of clubs and activities, with 75% strongly agreeing their child can take part, and 55% strongly agreeing there's a good range of subjects. On safety, 48% strongly agreed their child feels safe, and 43% strongly agreed their child is happy. The picture is broadly positive, though a small minority of parents expressed concerns around SEND support and how concerns are handled, which is worth noting if your child has specific needs.

Academically, Poulner Junior School is a solid, mid-ranking primary within Hampshire. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 55% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That's below the local authority average of 61%, and places the school 198th out of 425 similar schools in Hampshire. In the New Forest specifically, it ranks 22nd out of 35 primary schools. Looking at individual subjects, reading and writing both saw 77% of pupils hit the expected standard, while maths was slightly lower at 68%. The school's average scores were 105 in reading and 103 in maths, both a touch above the national benchmark of 100. However, only 8% of pupils achieved the higher standard across all three subjects, and progress scores are not available in the data. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024 confirmed its Good rating, with leadership and management also judged Good. This is a clear improvement from its 2017 inspection, when it was rated Requires Improvement.

Beyond the classroom, Poulner Junior School offers a decent range of facilities for a state primary, including a sports hall, gymnasium, ICT suite, art studios and a forest school. There's a chapel on site, and the school runs clubs in coding, choir and science. Sports provision covers football, netball, cricket, rounders, tennis and swimming. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists support for seven categories of SEND, including autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language communication needs, and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia. That said, the Parent View data shows a split on SEND support: 48% strongly agreed the school gives SEND children the support they need, but 24% strongly disagreed, so it's worth discussing your child's specific needs with the school directly. With 24% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a fairly diverse intake. It's a junior school only, taking children from age 7 to 11, so you'll need a separate infant school for Years R-2.

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