The Rushmere Park Academy
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The Rushmere Park Academy is a converter academy in Leighton Buzzard for boys and girls aged 2 to 9. It has 207 pupils, 57 more than it has places for. About 23 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. We give it 9 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it. Ofsted visited in April 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
East Street, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 1EW01525 372096therushmereparkacademy.co.ukMiss Viv Capron acting headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 28 April 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 17 May 2022 | S5 Inspection | Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference. Pupil numbers have grown by 32% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
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 a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
Specialist SEND provision. Resourced provision (extra staff and funding within a mainstream school) with 10 pupils, for autism.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Central Bedfordshire with autism provision.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 29.3 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 29.5 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (17), Autistic spectrum disorder (10), emotional and mental health (6), Moderate learning difficulty (1), Physical disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 207 | 204 | 190 | 170 | 155 | 126 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 22% | 24% | 25% | 22% | 23% | 23% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 20% | 16% | 14% | 13% | 14% | 13% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 12% | 10% | 12% | 17% | 19% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 8% | 8% | 3% | 3% | 5% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.9% 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 | 6.1% | 6.5% | 7.0% | 4.7% | 2.4% | 3.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.1% | 5.4% | 5.9% | 3.8% | 1.8% | 2.6% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 1.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 14.8% | 20.0% | 18.0% | 11.2% | 7.7% | 6.3% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 14.7 | 13.2 | 12.4 | 1.3 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for St George's Lower School, the school this one replaced in February 2019. 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 academy accounts return, year to August 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbert Inglefield Academy | Academy | 660 m | – | Report card 2026 | – | Compare |
| Clipstone Brook Lower School | Council | 760 m | 306 | Good 2019 | 69 | Compare |
| The Mary Bassett Lower School | Council | 850 m | 378 | Good 2024 | 28 | Compare |
| Brooklands Middle School | Academy | 950 m | 598 | Good 2023 | 69 | Compare |
| Leighton Middle School | Council | 0.6 miles | 597 | Good 2024 | 83 | Compare |
| Pulford CofE VA Lower School | Church of England | 0.7 miles | 259 | Good 2023 | 74 | Compare |
| Dovery Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 191 | No overall grade 2025 | 100 | Compare |
| Leedon Lower School | Council | 0.8 miles | 368 | Report card 2026 | 1 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 9 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 9% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 4 to 21. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | in line | -0.14 | Ofsted report card, 0.4 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.48 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | below | -0.10 | 2024/25; 128 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is The Rushmere Park Academy a good school?
The figures are weak. The Rushmere Park Academy scores 9 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils. The score could fairly be anywhere from 4 to 21, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is The Rushmere Park Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 28 April 2026 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does The Rushmere Park Academy have?
207 pupils aged 2 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 150 places, so it is 138% full.
Is The Rushmere Park Academy oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at The Rushmere Park Academy?
Pupils were in school 93.9% 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 The Rushmere Park Academy?
The average class had 21.2 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 11% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does The Rushmere Park Academy have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It has resourced provision (extra staff and funding within a mainstream school) for autism. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- East Street, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 1EW
- Telephone
- 01525 372096
- Website
- www.therushmereparkacademy.co.uk
- Acting Headteacher
- Miss Viv Capron
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-9, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Advantage Schools (10 schools)
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Leighton-Linslade North
- Constituency
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 February 2019 (academy converter)
- URN
- 146685 · LAESTAB 8232069 · UKPRN 10082189
- Formerly
- St George's 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, academy accounts return 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.