Laburnum Primary School
General Information
- Address: Laburnum Road, Sandy, SG19 1HQ – View on map
- Phone: 01767680691
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Ben Bardell
- Age range: 3-11 years
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: Yes
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 39
- % eligible for free school meals: 25.2%
- Pupil mix: 3 in 10 (less mixed than the Central Bedfordshire average)
- English as an additional language: 3% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 19% a year (Central Bedfordshire 16.8%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 38% moved to another school, 62% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (one year, DfE school workforce census)
Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across Central Bedfordshire: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 4 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 7 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
- Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)
These are figures for all state primary schools in Central Bedfordshire, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.
Attendance
- Overall absence: 5.8%
- Persistently absent pupils: 16.3%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 15.5%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.9%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Social, emotional and mental health: 9 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 9 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 8 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 1 pupil
- Speech, language and communications needs: 1 pupil
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card November 2025
Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.
- Safeguarding Met
- Inclusion Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
- Achievement Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
- Early years Expected standard
- Leadership and governance Expected standard
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Inadequate (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 63% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 0% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 13 percentage points above the Central Bedfordshire average (50%)
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 78% · Writing 74% · Maths 81% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 78%
- Average test scores: reading 106, maths 105
- Based on: 27 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25
View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.
Year 6 SATs: 12th of 37 junior and primary schools in the area
- =9Priory Academy65%
- #11Lancot School64%
- #12Laburnum Primary School63%
- =13Caddington Village School62%
- =13Langford Village Academy62%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £7,693 (2024-25)
25th of 91 primary schools in Central Bedfordshire for spending per pupil
- #23St. Augustine's Academy£7,761
- #24John Donne Church of England Primary School£7,735
- #25Laburnum Primary School£7,693
- #26Robert Peel Primary School£7,505
- #27Houghton Conquest Primary School£7,398
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)