Friday Bridge Community Primary School

Friday Bridge Community Primary School is a small, well-below-average-sized primary in a deprived area with high proportions of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEN support. This full inspection found a school on a rapid improvement journey. Safeguarding is met, and leadership and governance, along with personal development and wellbeing, are at the expected standard. Leaders have strengthened safeguarding, behaviour, reading and phonics, staff development and pastoral care; pupils feel safe, behave better, are highly inclusive and benefit from a wide personal development offer. The school is part of Fenland Schools Federation and has a headteacher in post since September 2025. However, significant weaknesses remain in outcomes and consistency. Achievement needs attention: over the last three years too many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, left without expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics, and the disadvantaged gap is wide. Phonics and early years attainment are improving but still below where they should be. Teaching varies too much, curriculum delivery lacks depth, and adaptations for SEND are inconsistent, meaning pupils have gaps and do not progress as quickly as they could. Attendance is below the national average with high persistent absence, including term-time holidays. Behaviour itself has improved significantly, but the combined attendance and behaviour area needs attention because of attendance. Relationships with parents are not always as positive as they could be. The inspection identified next steps: improve teachers' curriculum delivery and SEND adaptation, raise attainment at all stages, reduce absence and persistent absence, and strengthen parental engagement. Overall, the school has strong foundations through improved leadership, behaviour and personal development, but its core academic provision and attendance require further work before pupils consistently achieve as they should.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where concerns are identified and acted on.
• Leadership has driven rapid improvement in safeguarding, behaviour, phonics and staff development.
• Staff feel well supported and benefit from evidence-based professional development.
• Governors have robust assurance systems and keep safeguarding and pupil voice central to visits.
• Pupils feel safe and behaviour has improved significantly; bullying is rare and dealt with swiftly.
• Pupils are highly inclusive and respectful of differences, including peers with SEND.
• Personal development is a strength, with pupils developing healthy relationships, community safety and online safety knowledge.
• Pastoral support is effective and pupils are genuinely well known by staff.
• Pupils access a wide range of activities and responsibilities, including peer mediators and pupil-run clubs.
• Reading and phonics teaching has improved, with more pupils securing fluency and support for those who need it.
• Leaders have a clear, well-sequenced curriculum in place.
• Early years has stable routines, a strong speaking and listening focus, and rapid progress in writing.
• Barriers to learning for pupils with SEND are identified rapidly, and many now work fully alongside peers.
• Leaders work closely with external specialists, the local authority and the mathematics hub.
• Attendance analysis is methodical and leaders work tenaciously to improve attendance, with persistent absence decreasing.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement is too low: over three years many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, leave without expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The disadvantaged pupil gap remains wide across reading, writing and mathematics.
• Phonics attainment has been low, and some pupils still do not achieve as well as they should.
• Children do not achieve as well as they should by the end of Reception and are not fully ready for Year 1.
• Too many pupils lack age-appropriate understanding across the wider curriculum.
• Teaching effectiveness varies too much, so pupils do not always understand what they have been taught.
• Teachers do not consistently deliver the curriculum in enough depth or have consistently high expectations of work quality and quantity.
• Lessons and resources are not consistently adapted well enough for some pupils with SEND.
• Teachers spend too much time addressing gaps from previous learning, slowing progress through the curriculum.
• Inclusion systems for SEND are under review, and support for pupils with less significant needs is inconsistent.
• Some pupils are too reliant on adult support.
• Attendance is below the national average, with too much time off including term-time holidays.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND have attendance lower than those groups nationally.
• Persistent absence remains above national average and needs to reduce further.
• Relationships with parents and carers are not always as good as they could be.
• Overall quality of teaching is not yet where it needs to be, despite rapid improvement.

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 Friday Bridge Community Primary School attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 21.1% 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, 7.9% of pupils at Friday Bridge Community Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Friday Bridge Community Primary School had 44.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 75.0% 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, 36.0% of pupils at Friday Bridge Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.1% 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 Friday Bridge Community Primary School received £8,905 and spent £10,298 for each of its 89 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £183,000 (-£2,056 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Wisbech · Cambridgeshire local authority: places and applications

What is Friday Bridge Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Friday Bridge Community Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Friday Bridge Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Friday Bridge Community Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Friday Bridge Community Primary School have?

Friday Bridge Community Primary School has 89 pupils on roll.

What age range does Friday Bridge Community Primary School cover?

Friday Bridge Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Friday Bridge Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 29% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Friday Bridge Community Primary School?

Friday Bridge Community Primary School is at Maltmas Drove, Friday Bridge, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 0HW.