Queen Margaret Primary Academy

Seven classes, seven birds. Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Magpies, Owls, Kestrels and Eagles carry pupils from Reception to Year 6 at Queen Margaret Primary Academy, a one-form-entry state primary in Tewkesbury. The academy opened on 1 February 2024, when the long-established Queen Margaret Primary School joined the Cabot Learning Federation, and it has 147 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210.

Mrs Sara Bennion is Principal, having led the school through that change. It has not yet been inspected by Ofsted since it opened, so there is no inspection grade for this school. Key Stage 2 results sit below the England average on the headline measure, with a small cohort that makes single-year figures volatile. The case for the school rests on its size, its values-led culture, free breakfast for every child and a clear, structured approach to reading and maths.

A 68-year history sits behind a very new name. Until the end of January 2024 this was Queen Margaret Primary School; the following day it reopened as an academy within the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), a trust that by then counted 35 schools across the South West between Tewkesbury and Taunton. The move was marked with a two-day festival of dance, music and art, in which every child took part in an international dance workshop or a samba drumming workshop, and a large commemorative mosaic was unveiled at the front of the school.

Mrs Bennion described the day plainly: "Today marks a significant event in Queen Margaret primary School's 68-year history as we transferred over to join the CLF family and become Queen Margaret Primary Academy." That sense of continuity matters. Families are joining a school that is new on paper but not new to its community.

Values are the organising idea. Whole-school assemblies follow a monthly value, and the school's vision is summarised for children as ‘Believe in yourselves. Have the courage to succeed… anything is possible’. The language is aspirational, and it is backed by practical choices rather than slogans alone.

Scale shapes daily life. With one class per year group and a small staff team, pupils are known across the building, and the leadership team is compact: Mrs Bennion as Principal and designated safeguarding lead, Mrs Daina Kelly as Vice Principal and SENDCo, an Operations Manager and a Family Support Worker. For a child who might feel lost in a three-form-entry primary, that is a real advantage.

Restorative practice is a defining feature of how relationships are managed. Staff have been trained to help children solve problems and deal with conflict by talking things through, and the school reports that the results have been very positive. The practical effect is that falling out with a friend is treated as something to repair, not simply to punish.

In the most recent Key Stage 2 results, 55% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, against the England average of 62%. At the higher standard the figure was 5%, compared with an England average of 8%. These are below-average headline outcomes, and parents should weigh them honestly.

The detail is more mixed than the headline. Reading was the strongest of the core subjects: 75% reached the expected standard and the average scaled score was 103, comfortably above the expected standard of 100. Maths produced an average scaled score of 101, with 65% at the expected standard and 15% achieving a high score. Grammar, punctuation and spelling also averaged 101, with 60% at the expected standard. Science stood out, with 90% of pupils reaching the expected standard against an England average of 82%.

Cohort size is the essential context. Only 20 pupils sat these assessments, so each child represents five percentage points. Two or three pupils either side of a threshold can move the headline figure substantially, which makes trends over several years a better guide than any single set of results.

On FindMySchool's proprietary rankings, built from official data, the school is 11,440th of 14,978 in England for primary (KS2) results (top 76.4%), ranked against all schools in England with published primary results, state and independent. That places it below the England average on results alone. With the academy barely two and a half years old, families should ask how the school is tracking current Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, particularly in writing and maths, where the gap to the reading scores is widest.

Curriculum design comes from the trust. Subject specialists working across the CLF's 2 to 19 age range have curated the curriculum, which is organised around what the school calls States of being: units such as We are Citizens, We are Scientists, We are Artists and We are Mathematicians. Each unit draws on first-hand experiences, aspirational knowledge and developing skills, and history is taught chronologically so that knowledge builds year by year.

Early reading follows a systematic phonics programme, Unlocking Letters and Sounds, with daily phonics and spelling sessions in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The programme aims for children to become fluent readers by age seven, and the school day protects this: KS1 begins with phonics at 9.20am while KS2 reads, and the day closes at 3pm with Reading for Pleasure, a whole-class story. The reading scores at Key Stage 2 suggest this emphasis carries through.

Maths follows a mastery approach using White Rose schemes of learning, including recap lessons that revisit the previous year's content. Reception children get 30 minutes of direct instruction plus 15 minutes of Mastering Number (the NCETM programme); KS1 pupils add separate fluency time through Ready, Steady, Maths! sessions; and KS2 pupils have 45 minutes of teaching plus 25 minutes of fluency. Times Tables Rockstars supports multiplication recall. That is a lot of structured maths time, which is the right lever given maths lags reading in the results.

The broader curriculum includes art, computing, design technology, French, geography, history, music, PE, PSHE, religious education and science. Learning is shared with families through curriculum sessions, assemblies and displays.

Year 6 pupils move on to secondary school through Gloucestershire's coordinated admissions process, with families applying to their home local authority. For September 2027 entry, secondary applications must be made by 31 October 2026. Families should ask the school directly where recent Year 6 pupils have gone.

Gloucestershire retains grammar schools, which shapes Year 5 and Year 6 for some families. Registration for the grammar schools' entrance test is handled by the grammar schools themselves, not the county, and for September 2027 entry the test was scheduled for Saturday 12 September 2026. A qualifying score is not an automatic offer: the grammar school must also be listed on the secondary application form. Families considering this route should plan a year ahead, because the registration window closes in the summer term of Year 5.

Transition is handled deliberately for pupils with additional needs. The school works with secondary schools and pre-schools to put a careful transition plan in place when a child moves, and parents are involved at every step. Because the curriculum is curated by trust specialists working across the 2 to 19 age range, subject sequencing is planned with later stages in mind.

Reception entry is coordinated by Gloucestershire County Council. Applications for September 2027 must reach the child's home local authority by 15 January 2027, and offers follow on national offer day, 16 April 2027 or the next working day. The academy's own admission authority is the Cabot Learning Federation, which delegates approval of the admissions policy to the Local Academy Council.

The Published Admission Number is 30. Where there are more applications than places, the criteria are applied in this order: looked after and previously looked after children; children with a sibling on roll at the academy at the time of application and admission; then all other children, prioritised by straight-line distance from home to school. The sibling rule is precise: a sibling in Year 6 who will have left by the time the younger child starts does not count, and the sibling must live at the same address as part of the same core family unit. Distance is also the tie-break within each category, with a random lottery for equal distances.

Demand is modest for a one-form-entry school. In 2025 the school made 23 offers from 31 applications, with offers below the admission number of 30. Demand changes from year to year, so no family should assume a place.

Summer-born children can defer entry until January or April, or attend part time, with arrangements set out in the admissions policy. In-year applications go directly to the academy using the county's form, and paper copies are available from the school office. The school welcomes visits: prospective parents can call the office to arrange a tour.

Mental health is taken seriously and structured, not left to chance. Queen Margaret is a Young Minds Matter school, part of a confidential mental health support service for children and young people up to 18 in schools across Gloucestershire. In 2024 the school was awarded a Mental Health Champions award, built around the 5 ways to well-being, and it also won a Healthy Schools Award the same year. PSHE lessons link directly to the 5 ways to well-being, giving children practical ways of looking after themselves.

A Family Support Worker is a named part of the leadership team and can provide one-to-one time for children with emotional needs, alongside the SENDCo. That dedicated role is worth noting for families facing change at home, because it offers a point of contact beyond the class teacher.

Special educational needs are framed as whole-school business: every teacher is a teacher of pupils with SEND. When a need is identified, the class teacher and SENDCo meet parents to create a My Plan, and the child is monitored closely. Behaviour support can include individual reward charts, a behaviour plan, additional adult support or a pastoral support plan. Where progress stalls, the school can draw on the Advisory Teaching Service, an Educational Psychologist, the Behaviour Support Service, Families First, speech and language therapy and the school nurse, and it can request a My Plan Plus assessment that may lead to an Education, Health and Care Plan. Several classes have a dedicated SEN teaching partner, and the school describes itself as fully accessible.

Literature is the most vivid thread. The school takes pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, where Years 5 and 6 heard Christopher Edge discuss the research behind his Escape Room books, Year 4 created characters with illustrator Joe Todd Stanton and author Kieran Larwood, Cressida Cowell entertained Year 3, and younger pupils heard Michael Rosen read from his new book. In 2022, before the academy opened, the school's work with Tewkesbury library won the David Vaisey Prize and a cheque for £5,000. Reading is clearly a cultural priority, not just a timetable slot.

Sport is shaped by coaching and staff development. In 2025-26 the school received £17,230 in PE and sport premium, spending £13,526 on staff development and £1,155 on extra-curricular opportunities. Its plan for 2024/25 used ProStars to coach alongside teachers, Rugby Tykes for Reception and Year 1, membership of Move More for coaching and local competitions, and Bikeability for Year 6. The school has said it wants more children to take part in competitions against other local schools, which gives parents a fair question to ask about fixtures now.

Music runs from Reception to Year 6 through a curriculum built on six pillars, including instrumentation, notation, cultural understanding and singing, with opportunities to reflect, perform and compose. Community projects add colour: the school entered a county competition to name Gloucestershire's 29 road gritters, and from nearly 500 entries its suggestion, Queen Margritter, was chosen, earning a visit from the gritter itself.

The school does not publish a current list of after-school clubs, so families wanting specific activities should ask what runs each term.

Classroom doors open at 8.40am and the day ends at 3.15pm, 32 hours and 15 minutes a week. Lunch is at 12pm for Reception and KS1 and 12.15pm for KS2. Reception children are collected from the Wrens entrance; other year groups from the playground, whose gates open at 3.10pm. Only Year 6 pupils may walk home alone, with written permission.

Breakfast Club runs from 7.40am to 8.40am, with free breakfast of bagels and cereals through the National School Breakfast Programme, run by Family Action. After-school clubs are offered as optional extras, but times and costs are not published, so families needing late care should contact the school. School dinners are cooked on site by Caterlink at £2.54 a day, with universal free meals for Reception to Year 2, paid through ParentPay. Uniform centres on a yellow polo shirt and navy sweatshirt, and free pre-used uniform is available. The school does not publish transport guidance.

No inspection of this school yet. The academy has not been inspected since it opened in February 2024. Before this school opened, the predecessor school (URN 115560) was judged Requires Improvement by Ofsted in February 2022. Families therefore have no independent inspection verdict on the academy itself and should use a visit and direct questions to form their own view.

Results trail the England average. The headline reading, writing and mathematics figure of 55% sits below the England average of 62%, and higher-standard attainment is also lower. With cohorts of about 20, figures swing sharply year to year; ask how current Year 6 pupils are tracking.

Swimming needs attention. In 2025-26, 55% of Year 6 pupils could swim 25 metres competently, and 25% could use a range of strokes effectively. Parents of weaker swimmers may want to supplement lessons outside school.

After-school care is unclear. Breakfast Club is well established and free, but after-school provision is not published. Working parents should confirm pickup options before relying on the school for late care.

Queen Margaret Primary Academy is a small, values-led Tewkesbury primary in the early years of a new chapter. Its strengths are tangible: one class per year group, restorative practice, a dedicated Family Support Worker, free breakfast for every child, structured phonics and mastery maths, and a mental health approach recognised by two awards in 2024. Reading outcomes and science stand up well.

It is best suited to families who want a close-knit, one-form-entry primary where children are known individually, and who value pastoral care and a calm route into reading. The main caveat is evidence: the academy has not yet been inspected, and its headline Key Stage 2 results sit below the England average. Visit, ask how the school is lifting writing and maths, and judge the direction of travel for yourself.