Linton CofE Infant School

Linton CofE Infant School is performing well overall, with leaders judged to be working above the expected standard in inclusion and in personal development and wellbeing. The school has a strong inclusive ethos: pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils are identified early, supported through detailed plans and expert advice, and make suitable, often accelerated progress. Safeguarding is met, and pupils are happy, safe and attend well, with attendance above the national average and persistent absence low. Behaviour is calm and respectful, and bullying or unkind behaviour is extremely rare. Across the rest of the provision, the school meets expected standards. Leaders have designed a broad, ambitious curriculum, and recent improvements to early reading have raised phonics achievement, but achievement remains at the expected standard. Some pupils have gaps in foundational knowledge and skills such as handwriting and punctuation, and teaching feedback does not always close these gaps quickly. In the early years, the curriculum and relationships are strong, but the quality of staff-child interactions during play is sometimes inconsistent. The leadership team knows the school well, acts decisively on improvement, and has extremely positive relationships with staff, governors and parents. The main next steps are to embed the renewed handwriting and mathematics approaches so that gaps in basic skills continue to close, and to make early years interactions consistently purposeful so children deepen their learning across all areas.

Strengths

• Leaders identify pupils’ needs and barriers to learning at the earliest stage and secure expert assessments and advice.
• Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is very well matched to their specific needs and enables good progress.
• Disadvantaged pupils receive carefully considered support, including wise use of additional funding and access to enrichment.
• Support for pupils’ personal development and wellbeing is extensive, impactful and well matched to their age group.
• Pupils develop strong emotional literacy, confidence, resilience and independence from early on.
• The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain through its values, assemblies and curriculum.
• Extra-curricular activities and educational visits broaden pupils’ experiences and help them discover talents.
• Attendance is above the national average and persistent absence is low.
• Behaviour is calm, rooted in relationships and school values, with bullying and unkind behaviour extremely rare.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious and carefully matched to pupils’ needs.
• Improvements in early reading teaching have raised phonics achievement and pupils’ confidence.
• Staff know pupils’ individual needs well and adapt the curriculum and teaching effectively.
• The early years curriculum is clear, and children are curious, confident and largely independent learners.
• Leaders have deep knowledge of the school, act decisively and place inclusion at the heart of their work.
• Relationships between leaders, staff, governors, parents and carers are extremely positive.
• Staff feel valued through consideration of workload, wellbeing and professional development.
• Governors are well informed, know the school’s strengths and areas to develop, and hold leaders to account supportively.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils have gaps in foundational knowledge and skills, such as handwriting and punctuation, which hamper high-quality work.
• Teacher feedback does not always lead to improvement, and gaps in pupils’ knowledge do not close as quickly as they could.
• New teaching approaches in writing and mathematics need more time to become fully embedded.
• Early years staff-child interactions during play are sometimes not as purposeful or focused on children’s next steps as they could be.
• Overall achievement remains at the expected standard rather than strong, despite improvements in phonics.
• Leaders should ensure renewed approaches to teaching handwriting and mathematics continue to close gaps in foundational knowledge and skills.
• Leaders should ensure early years interactions are consistently high quality so children deepen their knowledge and skills across all areas.

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 Linton CofE Infant School attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.7% 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 Linton CofE Infant 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 Linton CofE Infant School had 21.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.8% 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, 7.2% of pupils at Linton CofE Infant School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.0% 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 Linton CofE Infant School received £7,501 and spent £7,998 for each of its 153 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £291,000 (-£1,899 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 Linton CofE Infant School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Linton CofE Infant School is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Linton CofE Infant School last inspected by Ofsted?

Linton CofE Infant School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Linton CofE Infant School have?

Linton CofE Infant School has 153 pupils on roll.

What age range does Linton CofE Infant School cover?

Linton CofE Infant School for pupils aged 5 to 7.

Where is Linton CofE Infant School?

Linton CofE Infant School is at Church Lane, Linton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB21 4JX.