Portswood Primary School
Somerset Road, Southampton, SO17 3AA
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- HISP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST LTD
- Headteacher
- Headteacher Tony Head
- Sponsor
- HISP Multi Academy Trust Ltd
- Constituency
- Southampton Test
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 416
- URN
- 138626
- Local authority
- Southampton
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02380555885
About this school
Portswood Primary School is a primary academy in Southampton. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 416 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Strong standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong 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 | 59 | 60 | 60 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 68% | 78% | 87% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| Expected standard in reading | 71% | 82% | 97% |
| Expected standard in maths | 92% | 92% | 97% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 86% | 87% | 97% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 108.0 | 111.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 108.0 | 110.0 | 112.0 |
| Reading progress | 0.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +1.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +3.60 | - | - |
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 Portswood 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 | Southampton average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 68% | 55.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 78% | 51.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 87% | 53.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 458 |
| 2023/24 | 458 |
| 2024/25 | 433 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Portswood Primary School compares
Portswood Primary School ranked 2nd of 45 primary schools in Southampton for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 95% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 66% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 87% | 4.7% | 30.3% | 416 | — |
| Swaythling Primary School | 66% | 5% | 38.8% | 201 | 0.4 miles |
| St Denys Primary School | 41% | 6.5% | 34.3% | 207 | 0.5 miles |
| Bitterne Park Primary & Nursery School - Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools | 69% | 4.1% | 18.2% | 725 | 0.5 miles |
| Highfield Church of England Primary School | 78% | 4.6% | 10.1% | 315 | 0.5 miles |
| Bassett Green Primary School | 58% | 5.9% | 42.6% | 412 | 0.6 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 report16 June 2026
- 16 February 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 30.31%
- English as an additional language
- 63.7%
- Overall absence
- 4.74%
- Persistent absence
- 9.33%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Swaythling Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Southampton
-
St Denys Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Southampton
-
Bitterne Park Primary & Nursery School - Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools0.5 miles
Primary · Southampton
-
Highfield Church of England Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Southampton
-
Bassett Green Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Southampton
Other schools in Southampton
Portswood Primary School ranks 2nd of the 79 ranked primary schools in Southampton.
- Abbotswood Junior School Primary
- Banister Primary School Primary
- Bartley Church of England Junior School Primary
- Bassett Green Primary School Primary
- Beechwood Junior School Primary
- Berrywood Primary School Primary
- Bevois Town Primary School Primary
- Bishop's Waltham Junior School Primary
- Bishops Waltham Infant School Primary
- Bitterne Church of England Primary School Primary
- Bitterne Manor Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Bitterne Park Primary & Nursery School - Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Portswood Primary School teach?
- Portswood Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Southampton.
- Who is the headteacher of Portswood Primary School?
- The headteacher of Portswood Primary School is Headteacher Tony Head, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Portswood Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Portswood 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 big is Portswood Primary School?
- Portswood Primary School has 416 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Portswood Primary School full?
- Portswood Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 416 on roll (99%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Portswood Primary School a faith school?
- No. Portswood Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Portswood Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Portswood Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Portswood Primary School?
- Portswood Primary School is part of HISP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST LTD. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Portswood Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 68% in 2022/23 and 87% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Portswood Primary School rank locally?
- Portswood Primary School ranked 2nd of 45 primary schools in Southampton for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 95% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 66% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Portswood Primary School's absence rate?
- Portswood Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.7% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Portswood Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Portswood 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 13 August 2026.