Croft Community School

Croft Community School is a SEND school for pupils with education, health and care plans, including specific learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, autism spectrum disorder, moderate learning difficulties and severe learning difficulties. It has a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and is located in an area of well above average deprivation. The school has recently left a federation, has a new governing body, and has seen changes to leadership roles. Inspectors found a caring, calm and safe school where pupils are happy, behave very well and benefit from strong pastoral care, inclusion and personal development. Safeguarding standards are met. Attendance and behaviour, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing are at the expected standard. However, achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance need attention. Overall, the school is not yet providing a consistently strong quality of education for all pupils.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
• Pupils feel safe and happy and conduct themselves very well.
• Behaviour is calm and respectful, and bullying is rare and managed effectively.
• Leaders work creatively and with multi-agency partners to improve attendance and support persistently absent pupils.
• Inclusion is a strength: pupils' SEND needs are accurately assessed and support is put in place quickly.
• Highly effective pastoral care and therapeutic interventions support pupils' social, emotional and mental health needs.
• Personal development is well thought through, with strong enrichment and life-skills opportunities.
• The careers programme is well established and pupils move on to suitable destinations.
• Phonics and reading are taught well, and pupils develop a love of reading.
• The pre-formal curriculum is carefully designed and assessment is used well to monitor progress.
• Staff are proud to work at the school, and parents are highly complimentary.
• Governors are passionate about the school and understand its context and barriers.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement needs attention; pupils do not consistently develop the depth of knowledge and skills they need across subjects.
• Teaching and curriculum are inconsistent across the school, so pupils' progress varies.
• Assessment is not used consistently well to identify what pupils already know or to address gaps in their learning.
• In some lessons, tasks lack ambition and are not well matched to pupils' needs or starting points.
• Some pupils are not supported well enough to work towards their education, health and care plan outcomes in lessons.
• Leaders' school improvement work has not led to improvement quickly enough.
• Recent changes to leadership roles and a newly elected governing body have limited the effectiveness and impact of strategic oversight.
• Professional development has not been embedded, limiting its impact on improving provision.
• Strategies to reduce barriers to learning are not used consistently effectively.
• Pupils do not develop key reading, writing and mathematics skills quickly enough because teaching is not consistent.

In 2024–25 pupils at Croft Community School attended 86.3% of sessions (the national figure for special schools was 87.2%). 36.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 35.3%).

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, 2.4% of pupils at Croft Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 5.1%). 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 Croft Community School had 10.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for special schools was 6.6). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.4% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.5%).

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 Croft Community School had 316 pupils, 100.0% of them with an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 99.5%).

It says it provides for: moderate learning difficulty; social, emotional and mental health; hearing impairment; physical disability; autistic spectrum disorder; other difficulty or disability.

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 special school schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Croft Community School received £21,324 and spent £20,727 for each of its 316 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,710,000 (£5,412 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 Stanley · County Durham local authority: places and applications

What is Croft Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Croft Community School is Needs attention, from an inspection in March 2026.

When was Croft Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Croft Community School was last inspected in March 2026.

How many pupils does Croft Community School have?

Croft Community School has 316 pupils on roll.

What age range does Croft Community School cover?

Croft Community School for pupils aged 4 to 16.

What are Croft Community School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 0% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Croft Community School?

Croft Community School is at Greencroft Road End, Annfield Plain, Stanley, DH9 8PR.