Fawcett Primary School

Fawcett Primary School is a happy, inclusive and well-led school where pupils behave well, feel safe and benefit from a broad, locally enriched curriculum. The inspection found the school meeting the expected standard across attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Safeguarding standards are met. The school is federated with Trumpington Meadows Primary School, shares leadership and governance, and has a well-above-average proportion of pupils with SEN support. Leaders have rightly focused on basic skills, introducing a new phonics scheme and improving early reading, writing and mathematics. Staff are well trained, inclusion is a strength, and pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported effectively. Personal development is also strong, with pupils developing confidence, cooperation, resilience and a positive understanding of diversity and British values. However, achievement needs attention. Disadvantaged pupils lag significantly behind their national peers and non-disadvantaged pupils, especially in reading, writing and mathematics, and recent improvements are not yet secure over time. Phonics is improving but not yet embedded, and some pupils’ learning is limited by scaffolds that are too restrictive. The next steps focus on reducing barriers for disadvantaged pupils, improving challenge in the wider curriculum, and strengthening early years interactions to develop speech, language and vocabulary.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, behave well and feel safe, with bullying rare and dealt with promptly.
• Attendance is broadly in line with national averages, with effective support for anxious pupils.
• The curriculum is carefully constructed and makes good use of the local area and federated school resources.
• Early reading and phonics have a strong focus, with rigorous monitoring and improving fluency.
• Early years provision is well planned and prepares most Reception children well for Year 1.
• Inclusion is effective, with SEND identified quickly and most pupils able to access the same learning as peers.
• Leadership and governance are effective, with governors who challenge and support appropriately.
• Personal development is strong, with wide clubs, trips, pastoral support and opportunities for pupil leadership.
• Pupils develop confidence, cooperation, resilience and a strong understanding of equality and British values.
• Staff are well trained and supported, including in phonics and practical mathematics resources.
• The school has recently helped significant numbers of pupils reach higher standards in reading and mathematics.

Areas for Improvement

• Disadvantaged pupils’ achievement lags significantly behind their national peers and non-disadvantaged pupils.
• The disadvantaged gap is particularly wide in reading, writing and mathematics, and is not yet securely closing.
• Phonics progress is improving but is not yet embedded enough for most pupils to reach the expected standard over time.
• Supporting scaffolds sometimes limit how some pupils deepen their learning and reasoning to the highest standard.
• Early years staff confidence varies in delivering high-quality interactions during play and between activities.
• Pupils with SEND are achieving better than previously, but this improvement is not yet established over time.
• Attendance for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND is slightly lower than for others.
• Teachers are not consistently skilled at choosing wider-curriculum activities that challenge more pupils to achieve highly.

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 Fawcett Primary School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.4% 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, 2.3% of pupils at Fawcett 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 Fawcett Primary School had 17.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.6% 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, 21.6% of pupils at Fawcett Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.4% 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 Fawcett Primary School received £7,774 and spent £8,035 for each of its 356 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £109,000 (£307 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 Fawcett Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Fawcett Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Fawcett Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Fawcett Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Fawcett Primary School have?

Fawcett Primary School has 356 pupils on roll.

What age range does Fawcett Primary School cover?

Fawcett Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Fawcett Primary School?

Fawcett Primary School is at Alpha Terrace, Trumpington, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 9FS.