Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School

Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School is a small, close-knit village school that is performing at the expected standard overall. Inspectors found a calm, caring and orderly environment where pupils behave well, feel safe and are known as individuals. Pupils benefit from a well-sequenced curriculum, strong early years provision and effective reading teaching, and their personal development is supported by a wide range of clubs, trips and leadership roles. Attendance has improved following focused work with families, and safeguarding arrangements are met. The main area for improvement is leadership and governance, which needs attention. Leaders and governors understand the school's strengths and weaknesses, but their strategic oversight, monitoring and evaluation are not yet robust enough. In particular, the pupil premium strategy is not monitored rigorously, so leaders cannot always show how well actions are supporting disadvantaged pupils, especially in writing. There is also a need to improve some writing basics, such as handwriting, spelling and punctuation, in some year groups, and the Year 4 multiplication check remains below national average, though leaders have begun to address this. The school is part of a federation and serves a small pupil population. Staff, parents and governors are positive about the school, and leaders are committed to improvement. The next steps focus on strengthening strategic oversight and ensuring the pupil premium strategy has a clear, measurable impact.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Pupils behave well and show mutual respect in lessons and during breaktimes.
• The school is calm, orderly and provides a purposeful learning environment.
• Early years provision is high quality and gives children a positive start to school.
• Reading is taught effectively and pupils develop a love of books.
• The curriculum is well-sequenced and builds pupils' knowledge securely over time.
• Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, feel included and supported.
• Personal development is well planned, covering health, safety, relationships and respect for difference.
• Pupils benefit from a broad range of clubs, trips and leadership opportunities.
• Attendance has improved through effective and focused support for families.
• Staff, parents and carers are positive about leadership and school life.
• Staff feel valued and have appropriate professional development opportunities.
• Outdoor learning is well used, especially in the early years.
• Pupils feel safe, included and know how to share any worries.

Areas for Improvement

• Leadership and governance oversight is not sufficiently well developed to secure sustained improvement.
• The pupil premium strategy is not monitored rigorously enough to evaluate the impact of actions.
• Leaders and governors lack clear guidance and training for strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• Some pupils in other year groups struggle with writing basics, including handwriting, spelling and punctuation.
• Achievement in the Year 4 multiplication check remains consistently below national average.
• Systems and processes can lack strategic design and robustness.
• Disadvantaged pupils' barriers to learning are not always tackled quickly enough.

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 Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.6% 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 Antrobus St Mark's CofE 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 Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School had 23.3 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, 3.1% of pupils at Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.0% 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 2024–25 Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School received £9,984 and spent £9,452 for each of its 106 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £35,000 (£330 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). This school files a single return with the other schools in its federation, so the figures are for the whole federation.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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What is Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School have?

Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School has 96 pupils on roll.

What age range does Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School cover?

Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 67% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School?

Antrobus St Mark's CofE Primary School is at School Lane, Antrobus, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 6LB.