Micklands Primary School

Micklands Primary School is a happy, nurturing community primary where pupils feel safe and behave well. Inspectors found strong provision across the early years, reading and mathematics, and noted that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve strongly. Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs and responsibilities, attendance has improved steadily, and governors and parents are highly supportive. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and it remains good overall. The main areas for improvement concern the quality of some curriculum delivery. In some subjects, staff do not check pupils' knowledge and understanding precisely enough, so errors and misconceptions are not addressed consistently. This is also true in the early years. The writing curriculum is a particular weakness: it does not build on pupils' prior learning consistently, and some pupils do not achieve as securely as they could by the end of key stage 2.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, safe, polite and well-mannered.
• Behaviour around school and in lessons is positive, with no low-level disruption.
• Children make a strong start in the early years and settle quickly into routines.
• Reading is prioritised and taught skilfully, with strong phonics support for pupils who fall behind.
• Pupils with SEND achieve strongly and their needs are identified quickly.
• The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities and pupil responsibilities.
• Attendance has improved steadily and the school acts quickly to support families.
• Governors know the school well and support staff training and development effectively.
• Parents are extremely supportive and value the school community.

Areas for Improvement

• Staff do not always check what pupils know and can do effectively, including in the early years.
• Some pupils do not learn as well as they could because errors and misconceptions are not addressed precisely.
• The writing curriculum does not consistently build on pupils' prior knowledge across the school.
• Some pupils do not achieve as securely as they could in writing by the end of key stage 2.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Micklands Primary School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Micklands Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Micklands Primary School had 18.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 14.7% of pupils at Micklands Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Micklands Primary School received £8,160 and spent £8,533 for each of its 293 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £719,000 (-£2,455 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Micklands Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Micklands Primary School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Micklands Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Micklands Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Micklands Primary School have?

Micklands Primary School has 293 pupils on roll.

What age range does Micklands Primary School cover?

Micklands Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Micklands Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 43% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Micklands Primary School?

Micklands Primary School is at Micklands Road, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire, RG4 6LU.