Durham Newton Hall Infants' School

Durham Newton Hall Infants’ School is a small, welcoming school where pupils feel safe, happy and well cared for. Inspectors found the school performing well across all judged areas, with a strong culture of kindness, good behaviour and pupils who work hard and achieve well. The curriculum is broad and balanced, reading and phonics are a key priority, mathematics is well sequenced, and personal development is a notable strength. Leadership is clear and consistent, governors provide effective oversight, and staff feel well supported. The school’s main areas for improvement relate to early reading and writing. For a small number of weaker readers, books are not always well matched to the sounds they know, which slows their progress in reading fluency. Writing tasks do not consistently match pupils’ spelling and grammar knowledge, and some pupils therefore struggle to develop writing fluency. Monitoring of the curriculum and catch-up programmes is also not timely or focused enough, so leaders do not always have an accurate view of strengths and weaknesses. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took the pandemic’s impact into account. Under the current inspection framework, the school did not receive an overall effectiveness grade; each key judgement was good. Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Strengths

• Caring and welcoming culture where pupils feel safe and happy.
• Strong focus on kindness, with pupils supporting and looking after one another.
• Broad and balanced curriculum that builds knowledge and skills progressively in most subjects.
• Purposeful early years environment with a strong focus on early language.
• Reading and phonics are key priorities, with well-trained staff and strong subject knowledge.
• Well-sequenced and ambitious mathematics curriculum that supports all pupil groups.
• High expectations of behaviour combined with a nurturing approach.
• Strong personal development programme covering online safety, healthy lifestyles and British values.
• Clear leadership vision with effective governor oversight and challenge.
• Staff, including those early in their careers, feel well supported and workload is managed.
• Effective safeguarding arrangements.

Areas for Improvement

• Books for some weaker readers are not closely matched to the sounds they know, slowing reading fluency and catch-up.
• Writing tasks do not consistently match pupils’ spelling and grammar knowledge, so some pupils struggle with writing fluency.
• Some pupils do not develop spelling, sentence structure and handwriting skills as well as they should.
• Monitoring of the curriculum and catch-up programmes is not timely or focused enough, limiting leaders’ accurate view of strengths and weaknesses.

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 Durham Newton Hall Infants' School attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.0% 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 Durham Newton Hall Infants' 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 Durham Newton Hall Infants' School had 15.3 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, 9.1% of pupils at Durham Newton Hall Infants' School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.9% 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 Durham Newton Hall Infants' School received £8,094 and spent £8,234 for each of its 110 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £93,000 (£849 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

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What is Durham Newton Hall Infants' School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Durham Newton Hall Infants' School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Durham Newton Hall Infants' School last inspected by Ofsted?

Durham Newton Hall Infants' School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Durham Newton Hall Infants' School have?

Durham Newton Hall Infants' School has 110 pupils on roll.

What age range does Durham Newton Hall Infants' School cover?

Durham Newton Hall Infants' School for pupils aged 3 to 7.

Where is Durham Newton Hall Infants' School?

Durham Newton Hall Infants' School is at Langley Road, Newton Hall, Durham, DH1 5LP.