Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary is a large, two-campus primary school that inspectors judged to be fulfilling the expected standard across the areas inspected, with safeguarding met. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve well overall, with outcomes close to national averages. Reading is a particular strength: pupils become confident, fluent readers from the early years, and the curriculum prepares them well for secondary school. Behaviour and attendance are also strong, with pupils showing respect, attending regularly, and persistent absence below the national average. The report highlights several areas for improvement. Writing and early years writing are not consistently secure: some pupils have embedded misconceptions in basics such as letter formation and spelling, and teachers' questioning is not always precise enough to uncover misconceptions. In the early years, some misconceptions are not tackled early enough, and adult interactions in less structured play do not always extend children's language and vocabulary. Adaptive inclusion practices for pupils with SEND are generally effective but not yet consistently embedded in all teaching. The wider personal development offer is comprehensive, but religious visits are not always linked back to classroom learning, limiting the depth of some pupils' understanding. Leaders have robust quality assurance, and governors hold them to account well, but some leadership actions are still to have their full intended impact. The next steps focus on checking pupils' understanding more precisely, embedding adaptive inclusion, aligning personal development with the curriculum, and ensuring the early writing curriculum is taught consistently.

Strengths

• Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, achieve well overall.
• Reading is a major strength; pupils become confident, fluent readers.
• Pupils have secure mathematical knowledge and can solve a variety of problems.
• Pupils are well prepared for the challenges of secondary school.
• Attendance is strong, and persistent absence is below the national average.
• Pupils behave well, show high respect for others, and bullying is rare.
• The curriculum is ambitious, carefully ordered, and well understood by leaders.
• Early years provision gets children off to a great start, especially in phonics.
• Staff support vulnerable pupils and pupils with SEND effectively.
• New pupils, including those with English as an additional language, are swiftly integrated.
• Leadership vision is clear, and leaders use robust quality assurance to improve teaching.
• Governors are well informed, knowledgeable, and hold leaders robustly to account.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and feel well supported.
• Personal development is comprehensive and inclusive, with a wide range of experiences.
• Pupils learn about safety, healthy relationships, and fundamental British values.
• Pupils have a strong sense of belonging across the two campuses.

Areas for Improvement

• Teachers' questioning is sometimes not precise enough to identify pupils' misconceptions.
• Some pupils have embedded misconceptions in writing basics, including letter formation and spelling.
• Early years staff do not always tackle misconceptions early enough, such as pencil grip and letter formation.
• Adult interactions in less structured early years activities do not consistently extend language and vocabulary.
• Adaptive inclusion practices for pupils with SEND are not yet consistently embedded in all teaching.
• Some leadership actions are still to have the full intended impact.
• Pupils are not always supported to link religious visits to classroom learning.
• The wider personal development offer is not always carefully aligned with the curriculum.
• Staff in early years do not consistently teach the early writing curriculum as intended.
• Disadvantaged pupils' mathematics outcomes are below national averages, with a large disadvantage gap.

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 Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.5% 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, 0.5% of pupils at Hardwick and Cambourne Community 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 Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School had 21.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.0% 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, 16.1% of pupils at Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.4% 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 Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School received £6,744 and spent £6,604 for each of its 585 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £225,000 (£384 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

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What is Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School have?

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School has 585 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School cover?

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School?

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School is at Limes Road, Hardwick, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB23 7RE.