St Leonards CE Academy
St Leonards CE Academy is a converter academy in Leighton Buzzard for boys and girls aged 5 to 9. It has 117 pupils and room for 125. About 8 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Thrift Road, Heath and Reach, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 0AX01525 237253stleonards.beds.sch.ukMrs Sarah Bowley headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 19 March 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published. As a Church of England school it may put families of that faith first. Check the school's own admissions rules.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Central Bedfordshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 21.7 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 26.0 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (7), Specific learning difficulty (7), language and communications needs (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (4).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 94.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25† | 2023/24† | 2022/23† | 2021/22† | 2020/21† | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 5.5% | 5.7% | 6.2% | 5.8% | 1.3% | 2.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.0% | 4.2% | 5.4% | 5.5% | 1.1% | 2.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.5% | 1.5% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 15.3% | 14.7% | 14.3% | 12.5% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 12.8% |
† These attendance figures are for St Leonards, Heath and Reach, VA Lower School, the school this one replaced in September 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathwood Lower School | Council | 0.8 miles | 195 | Good 2023 | 81 | Compare |
| Dovery Academy | Academy | 1.0 miles | 191 | No overall grade 2025 | 100 | Compare |
| Gilbert Inglefield Academy | Academy | 1.5 miles | – | Report card 2026 | – | Compare |
| The Rushmere Park Academy | Academy | 1.7 miles | 207 | Report card 2026 | 9 | Compare |
| High Ash Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 1.7 miles | 247 | Requires improvement 2023 | 14 | Compare |
| Beaudesert Lower School | Council | 1.9 miles | 278 | Good 2024 | 54 | Compare |
| The Mary Bassett Lower School | Council | 2.0 miles | 378 | Good 2024 | 28 | Compare |
| Southcott Lower School | Council | 2.1 miles | 312 | Good 2023 | 85 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is St Leonards CE Academy a good school?
St Leonards CE Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in March 2024.
What is St Leonards CE Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St Leonards CE Academy good at its last full inspection on 19 March 2024.
How many pupils does St Leonards CE Academy have?
117 pupils aged 5 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 125 places, so it is 94% full.
What is attendance like at St Leonards CE Academy?
Pupils were in school 94.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 15% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at St Leonards CE Academy?
The average class had 23.4 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Thrift Road, Heath and Reach, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 0AX
- Telephone
- 01525 237253
- Website
- www.stleonards.beds.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Bowley
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 5-9
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England, Diocese of St Albans
- Multi-academy trust
- Diocese of St Albans Multi-Academy Trust (15 schools)
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Heath & Reach
- Constituency
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2025 (academy converter)
- URN
- 151804 · LAESTAB 8233310 · UKPRN 10097823
- Formerly
- St Leonards, Heath and Reach, VA Lower School
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.