Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy

Epping Forest · EN9 1LG

General information Primary School · 3-11 years Who goes here 598 pupils, 27.5% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN Resourced provision · 8.4% on SEN support Behaviour Good record Staff 13.9% turnover Financials £671 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

FOI Transparency How openly this school shares data

Cooperative 70 /100

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Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy

General Information

Address: Quendon Drive, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1LG – View on map
Phone: 01992713191
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Miss Sarah Clarke
Age range: 3-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 79 families put it first for 81 places – 10 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 4 of the 81 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 7 · 2024 10 · 2025 9 · 2026 10
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: Yes

Who goes here

598 pupils out of 630 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 160
% eligible for free school meals: 27.5%
Pupil mix: 7 in 10 (more mixed than the Epping Forest average)
English as an additional language: 34% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 13.9% a year (Epping Forest 14.6%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 41% moved to another school, 59% 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.

Supply and cover teaching

Teaching posts vacant or only temporarily filled during the year: 0
Days of supply or agency teacher cover: 10
Data year: 2025/26 (from the school, under Freedom of Information)

Government figures only count teachers on contracts of 28 days or more, so a class covered by a run of supply teachers doesn't show up in them – which is why we ask schools directly.

Behaviour

Good record 2025/26

About this Behaviour status

Based on real data requested under Freedom of Information, compared against other schools of the same type that have also responded - not a judgement on any single figure alone.

Reading the numbers: higher figures below often mean a school records thoroughly and takes concerns seriously, rather than more incidents happening. A school reporting unusually low figures sometimes has a reporting gap rather than a problem-free intake. If a figure stands out, it's worth asking the school how it records.

Data year: 2025/26
Bullying incidents: 2
Physical aggression / violence incidents: 7
Child protection referrals: 10
Safeguarding concerns: 148
Racist incidents: 3
Suspensions (fixed-term exclusions): 2
Permanent exclusions: 0
Sexual harassment or sexual violence between pupils (recorded incidents): 0 (led to a suspension or exclusion: 0; referred to social care or police: 0) – a higher number can mean a school takes reports seriously and records them carefully

See the bullying figures for every school in Epping Forest →

Figures may show "<5" for some schools.

What does "<5" mean?

A figure shown as "<5" means the real number is below 5 - the standard convention for this kind of data, used to avoid identifying individual pupils. Different schools may also record and define incidents differently, so read comparisons with care.

2nd of 6 primary schools in Epping Forest for behaviour

#1Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School68%
#2Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy64%
#3Upshire Primary Foundation School60%
#4Chipping Ongar Primary School40%

Click to see the full ranking

Behaviour ranking

Each school's score (out of 100) reflects how it compares to other schools in the area across all reported behaviour metrics — bullying, physical aggression, safeguarding referrals and racist incidents. A higher score means fewer reported incidents relative to peers. Ranked by real FOI-reported figures. Schools that have declined to provide this data sit at the bottom — refusing a legal request is treated as worse than any honestly-reported result.

Rank School Score

#1Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School68%
#2Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy64%
#3Upshire Primary Foundation School60%
#4Chipping Ongar Primary School40%
#5Ongar Primary School40%
#6Ivy Chimneys Primary School28%

Across Essex: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 28 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 17 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 7 (0.1 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 Essex (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: 4.0%
Persistently absent pupils: 10.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

Resourced provision for Autism 7 places · 3 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 8.4%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.7%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 29 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 8 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 4 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 9 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 8 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 2 pupils
Hearing impairment: 1 pupil
Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

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Would recommend –

This score reflects how openly the school responded to our Freedom of Information request. Schools that withhold information are rated lower — even the act of hiding data tells parents something about a school’s openness.

Response: Full response (+60)
Timeliness: Response date not recorded (+10)
Optional data: No optional data (+0)

Exemplary (80–100) · Cooperative (60–79) · Reluctant (40–59) · Obstructive (20–39) · Opaque (0–19)

Educational Attainment

Good 2024 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 73% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 11% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 8 percentage points above the Epping Forest average (65%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (3-year average 65% against an expected 66%)
3-year average (expected standard): 65%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 84% · Writing 82% · Maths 82% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 86%
Average test scores: reading 106, maths 106
Based on: 85 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

This schoolEpping Forest averageEngland↗ Improving Up 17 percentage points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 8 percentage points above the Epping Forest average (65%).

Year 6 SATs: 8th of 30 junior and primary schools in the area

=3Thomas Willingale Primary School and Nursery75%
#7Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School74%
#8Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy73%
#9St John's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Buckhurst Hill72%
#10Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy71%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

#1Hereward Primary School90%
#2Ivy Chimneys Primary School83%
=3Chigwell Primary Academy75%
=3Moreton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School75%
=3Staples Road Primary School75%
=3Thomas Willingale Primary School and Nursery75%
#7Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School74%
#8Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy73%
#9St John's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Buckhurst Hill72%
#10Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy71%
#11Ongar Primary School70%
#12Epping Primary School66%
#13Lambourne Primary School65%
=14Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School64%
=14Chipping Ongar Primary School64%
=14White Bridge Primary School64%
=17St Andrew's CofE Primary School63%
=17Theydon Bois Primary School63%
=19Roydon Primary Academy59%
=19The Alderton Junior School59%
#21Matching Green Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School58%
#22Limes Farm Junior School57%
#23High Ongar Primary School56%
#24St John Fisher Catholic Primary School53%
#25Epping Upland CofE Primary School52%
#26Sheering Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School50%
#27Hillhouse CofE Primary School43%
#28Leverton Primary School42%
#29Upshire Primary Foundation School37%
#30High Beech CofE Primary School29%

View full Ofsted inspection report

25th of 27 primary schools in Epping Forest for Ofsted rating

#23Theydon Bois Primary SchoolGood
#24Thomas Willingale Primary School and NurseryGood
#25Waltham Holy Cross Primary AcademyGood
#26White Bridge Primary SchoolGood
#27Dr Walker's CofE Primary SchoolRequires improvement

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Hereward Primary SchoolOutstanding
#2Chigwell Primary AcademyGood
#3Chipping Ongar Primary SchoolGood
#4Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary SchoolGood
#5Epping Primary SchoolGood
#6Epping Upland CofE Primary SchoolGood
#7High Beech CofE Primary SchoolGood
#8High Ongar Primary SchoolGood
#9Hillhouse CofE Primary SchoolGood
#10Ivy Chimneys Primary SchoolGood
#11Lambourne Primary SchoolGood
#12Leverton Primary SchoolGood
#13Matching Green Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary SchoolGood
#14Moreton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolGood
#15Nazeing Primary SchoolGood
#16Ongar Primary SchoolGood
#17Roydon Primary AcademyGood
#18Sheering Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary SchoolGood
#19St Andrew's CofE Primary SchoolGood
#20St John's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Buckhurst HillGood
#21Stapleford Abbotts Primary AcademyGood
#22Staples Road Primary SchoolGood
#23Theydon Bois Primary SchoolGood
#24Thomas Willingale Primary School and NurseryGood
#25Waltham Holy Cross Primary AcademyGood
#26White Bridge Primary SchoolGood
#27Dr Walker's CofE Primary SchoolRequires improvement

Financials

Spending per pupil: £671 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

28th of 28 primary schools in Epping Forest for spending per pupil

#26Staples Road Primary School£5,498
#27Roydon Primary Academy£5,448
#28Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy£671

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Upshire Primary Foundation School£9,588
#2Sheering Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School£8,484
#3Matching Green Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School£8,403
#4High Beech CofE Primary School£8,348
#5Lambourne Primary School£7,748
#6St John's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Buckhurst Hill£7,386
#7Moreton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School£6,827
#8Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School£6,779
#9Chigwell Primary Academy£6,656
#10St Andrew's CofE Primary School£6,588
#11Leverton Primary School£6,491
#12Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School£6,364
#13Chipping Ongar Primary School£6,302
#14Ongar Primary School£6,295
#15White Bridge Primary School£6,250
#16Hillhouse CofE Primary School£6,242
#17Ivy Chimneys Primary School£6,239
#18Thomas Willingale Primary School and Nursery£6,193
#19High Ongar Primary School£6,096
#20Hereward Primary School£6,025
#21St John Fisher Catholic Primary School£5,804
#22Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy£5,761
#23Theydon Bois Primary School£5,714
#24Epping Upland CofE Primary School£5,667
#25Epping Primary School£5,560
#26Staples Road Primary School£5,498
#27Roydon Primary Academy£5,448
#28Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy£671

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

Environment

Data received 2025/26

About this Environment status

Based on real information requested under Freedom of Information, covering step-free access, specialist facilities, classroom climate, and technology provision.

Accessibility

Step-free for pupils, staff and visitors: No
Overall accessibility: Partially - Appropriate support given to students
Lifts for pupil use: No
Accessible toilets: Yes
Sensory room: No
Other accessibility facilities: ARP

Climate

Classrooms with air conditioning: 31.8%
Air cooling units: No
Shaded outdoor areas: Yes
Heatwave procedures: Yes - informal arrangements

Technology

Pupil devices (approx.): 285
Pupils per device: 2:1
Digital display in every classroom: Yes
Interactive whiteboards: Yes - all classrooms
1:1 pupil device programme: No
Coding / robotics equipment: Yes - Bee bots
Assistive technology for SEND pupils: Yes - AAC

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