St Michael's Primary School
General Information
- Address: Station Road, Withyham, Hartfield, TN7 4BP – View on map
- Phone: 01892770307
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mrs Catherine O'Shea
- Age range: 4-11 years
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: No
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 4
- % eligible for free school meals: 5.4%
- Pupil mix: 3 in 10 (similar to the Wealden average)
- English as an additional language: 0% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 20.3% a year (Wealden 16.7%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 60% moved to another school, 40% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, 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 East Sussex: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 3 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
- Suspensions for bullying: 7 (0.2 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 East Sussex (the council area this school is in), 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: 6.8%
- Persistently absent pupils: 20.3%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 20.3%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 9.5%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Specific learning difficulty: 7 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 5 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 2 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 4 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 2 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card March 2026
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 Needs attention
- 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 Requires improvement (2023). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 71% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 0% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 9 percentage points above the Wealden average (62%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 48%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 71% · Writing 71% · Maths 71% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 71%
- Average test scores: reading 111, maths 104
- Based on: 7 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25
View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.
SATs results over time
Year 6 SATs: joint 11th of 48 junior and primary schools in the area
- =11Punnetts Town Community Primary School and Nursery71%
- =11Rocks Park Primary School71%
- =11St Michael's Primary School71%
- #15Cross-in-Hand Church of England Primary School70%
- #16St Mark's Church of England Primary School69%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £8,567 (2024-25)
10th of 45 primary schools in Wealden for spending per pupil
- #8East Hoathly CofE Primary School£8,639
- #9Jarvis Brook Primary School£8,573
- #10St Michael's Primary School£8,567
- #11All Saints' and St Richard's Church of England Primary School£8,498
- #12Framfield Church of England Primary School£8,188
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)