Hesters Way Primary School
Dill Avenue, Cheltenham, GL51 0ES
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Miss Kirsti Ashman
- Constituency
- Tewkesbury
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 171
- URN
- 131250
- Local authority
- Gloucestershire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01242525616
About this school
Hesters Way Primary School is a community primary school in Cheltenham. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 171 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Hesters Way Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 24 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 58% | 50% | 57% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 71% | 67% | 73% |
| Expected standard in maths | 75% | 73% | 67% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 75% | 77% | 73% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 102.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.50 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.60 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +0.10 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Hesters Way Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Gloucestershire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 58% | 58.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 50% | 56.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 57% | 59.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 190 |
| 2023/24 | 181 |
| 2024/25 | 185 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Hesters Way Primary School compares
Hesters Way Primary School ranked 134th of 209 primary schools in Gloucestershire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 20% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 57% | 7.5% | 46% | 171 | — |
| Springbank Primary Academy | 53% | 5.9% | 35% | 435 | 0.5 miles |
| Rowanfield Infant School | — | 7.4% | 28.1% | 235 | 0.5 miles |
| Rowanfield Junior School | 67% | 5.7% | 42.9% | 345 | 0.5 miles |
| St Thomas More Catholic Primary School | 33% | 6.5% | 40.3% | 191 | 0.6 miles |
| Gloucester Road Primary School | 38% | 4.8% | 25.2% | 236 | 1.0 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report6 January 2026
- 3 November 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 45.95%
- English as an additional language
- 40%
- Overall absence
- 7.54%
- Persistent absence
- 27.38%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Springbank Primary Academy0.5 miles
Primary · Cheltenham
-
Rowanfield Infant School0.5 miles
Primary · Cheltenham
-
Rowanfield Junior School0.5 miles
Primary · Cheltenham
-
St Thomas More Catholic Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Cheltenham
-
Gloucester Road Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Cheltenham
Other schools in Cheltenham
Hesters Way Primary School ranks 26th of the 40 ranked primary schools in Cheltenham.
- Andoversford Primary School Primary
- Benhall Infant School Primary
- Bishops Cleeve Primary Academy Primary
- Bourton-on-the-Water Primary School Primary
- Charlton Kings Infants' School Primary
- Charlton Kings Junior School Primary
- Christ Church CofE Primary School Primary
- Coberley Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cold Aston Church of England Primary School Primary
- Dunalley Primary School Primary
- Gardners Lane Primary School Primary
- Glenfall Community Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Hesters Way Primary School teach?
- Hesters Way Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Cheltenham.
- Who is the headteacher of Hesters Way Primary School?
- The headteacher of Hesters Way Primary School is Miss Kirsti Ashman, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Hesters Way Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Hesters Way Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Hesters Way Primary School?
- Hesters Way Primary School has 171 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Hesters Way Primary School full?
- Hesters Way Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 171 on roll (81%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Hesters Way Primary School a faith school?
- No. Hesters Way Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Hesters Way Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Hesters Way Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Hesters Way Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 58% in 2022/23 and 57% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Hesters Way Primary School compare with other schools in Gloucestershire?
- Hesters Way Primary School ranked 134th of 209 primary schools in Gloucestershire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 20% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Hesters Way Primary School's absence rate?
- Hesters Way Primary School's overall absence rate is 7.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Hesters Way Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Hesters Way Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.