Crich Junior School

Crich Junior School is performing well overall, with inspectors finding good provision across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The school has a strong family feel: pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, settle quickly, feel safe and are well supported by adults. Parents describe it as a wonderful place where children thrive, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The curriculum is ambitious and mostly well considered, with creative organisation for mixed-age classes and subject-expert teaching that helps pupils connect new knowledge with prior learning. Pupils achieve well, produce high-quality artwork and benefit from a strong reading culture. Support for pupils with SEND is precise, staff feel well supported and trusted, and governors act as effective critical friends. There are areas to improve. In a few subjects, the curriculum is less well organised and pupils have too few opportunities to revisit knowledge, so they find it harder to remember and connect learning. Some staff are not trained to deliver the new phonics programme effectively, and reading tasks in other subjects are not always adapted well for pupils at the earliest stages of reading. Some pupils’ knowledge of the religions they have studied is also limited. This was the school’s first routine inspection since 2013, when it was exempt as outstanding, and its first since the COVID-19 pandemic; under the current framework, no overall effectiveness grade was awarded.

Strengths

• Strong family feel where all pupils, including those with SEND, feel welcome and settle quickly.
• Pupils feel safe and are well supported through mood tracking, trusted adults and a worry box.
• Kind, considerate pupils with harmonious playtimes and older pupils looking out for younger ones.
• Ambitious, mostly well-considered curriculum adapted creatively for mixed-age classes.
• Subject-expert teaching helps pupils connect new knowledge with prior learning.
• High-quality art work and a sound understanding of artistic style across ages.
• Precise SEND support plans and effective use of assessment, especially in mathematics.
• Strong reading culture where pupils read daily and most become confident, fluent readers.
• Effective personal development, including British values, respect for diversity and community involvement.
• Staff feel well supported, trusted and have manageable workload.
• Governors act as effective critical friends and champion the school’s vision.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In a few subjects, the curriculum is not well organised and knowledge is revisited too infrequently.
• Retrieval approaches in some subjects are less effective, so pupils struggle to remember and connect learning.
• Some staff are not trained to deliver the new phonics programme effectively.
• Reading tasks in other subjects are not always adapted appropriately for pupils at early reading stages.
• A few pupils at the early stages of reading do not get the right help quickly enough to become fluent readers.
• Some pupils’ knowledge of the religions they have studied is limited.

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 Crich Junior School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 6.8% 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 Crich Junior 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 Crich Junior School had 21.2 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, 10.3% of pupils at Crich Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.7% 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 Crich Junior School received £7,833 and spent £7,681 for each of its 87 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £6,000 (£72 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 Matlock · Derbyshire local authority: places and applications

What is Crich Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Crich Junior School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Crich Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Crich Junior School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Crich Junior School have?

Crich Junior School has 87 pupils on roll.

What age range does Crich Junior School cover?

Crich Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Crich Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 65% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Crich Junior School?

Crich Junior School is at School Lane, Crich, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5DF.