Ely St John's Community Primary School

Ely St John’s Community Primary School is a lively, nurturing and strongly community-minded school where pupils are happy, polite and eager to learn. Inspectors found provision performing well across education, behaviour, personal development, leadership and early years. Reading is central to the curriculum and children make a quick start in Reception; the broad curriculum, wide enrichment offer, strong SEND identification and effective safeguarding all contribute to a positive picture. Attendance is above the national average and parents speak highly of the school.

Strengths

• Broad and ambitious curriculum meets pupils’ needs well
• Reading is at the heart of the curriculum and children progress quickly
• Pupils behave respectfully, politely and with resilience
• Strong personal development and enrichment programme, including outdoor learning and clubs
• Early years children settle quickly and benefit from purposeful outdoor learning
• SEND needs are identified quickly and precisely, with effective support
• Leaders are passionate, governors are knowledgeable and staff value workload consideration
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Attendance is above the national average
• Parents value the school highly

Areas for Improvement

• In a few subjects, essential knowledge has only recently been mapped out and staff are not always clear what pupils should know and remember
• In some subjects, staff do not check effectively what pupils have learned, leading to gaps in learning
• Leaders do not always get into classrooms enough to gauge how well the curriculum is working
• Oversight of curriculum delivery and impact is not secure in some subjects, causing variability in how well pupils learn and remember key knowledge

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 Ely St John's Community Primary School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.5% 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, 2.2% of pupils at Ely St John's 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 Ely St John's Community Primary School had 22.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 5.9% of pupils at Ely St John's Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.0% 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 Ely St John's Community Primary School received £6,375 and spent £6,315 for each of its 371 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £69,000 (£187 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 Ely · Cambridgeshire local authority: places and applications

What is Ely St John's Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Ely St John's Community Primary School is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Ely St John's Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Ely St John's Community Primary School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Ely St John's Community Primary School have?

Ely St John's Community Primary School has 371 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ely St John's Community Primary School cover?

Ely St John's Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Ely St John's Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Ely St John's Community Primary School?

Ely St John's Community Primary School is at St John's Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3BW.