Ashdon Primary School

Ashdon Primary School is a very small village primary with 58 pupils and mixed-age classes. This full inspection found that safeguarding standards are met and that pupils feel safe and trust adults. Attendance and behaviour, early years, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing are all at the expected standard. Pupils benefit from a caring, inclusive community shaped by the values of care, challenge and celebration, and they take on responsibilities and support younger children well. Early years children settle quickly and develop early reading through a consistent phonics approach. The main concerns are in achievement and in curriculum and teaching. Published outcomes vary because cohorts are tiny, but current pupils' learning is not consistently secure, and some have important gaps in spelling, punctuation, handwriting and number facts, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils. Recent curriculum changes, especially in mathematics, are at an early stage, and teaching, assessment and classroom adaptations vary in effectiveness. Staff do not routinely identify gaps and misconceptions or check that essential knowledge is secure before moving on. Leaders and governors are committed and have begun to address weaknesses, but quality assurance and tracking are not thorough enough. Governors do not always use the information available to challenge leaders and hold them fully to account, and improvement work sometimes depends too heavily on leaders' detailed knowledge of the school. Next steps focus on stronger strategic oversight, sharper identification of inconsistencies, more consistent and effective adaptations for pupils who need them, and improvement work better matched to the small mixed-age setting.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe and trust adults.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school, with disruption uncommon.
• Attendance is monitored closely and persistent absence is below the national average.
• Early years children settle quickly and develop early reading through consistent phonics teaching.
• The early years curriculum is adapted well for the mixed-age Reception/Year 1 class.
• An inclusive culture helps pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and vulnerable pupils take part fully.
• Personal development offers clubs, sports, performances and community events despite the school's small size.
• Pupils take on leadership roles, and older pupils support younger children naturally.
• The values of care, challenge and celebration shape pupils' conduct and relationships.
• Leaders are committed to improvement and have begun addressing curriculum weaknesses.
• Staff know pupils and families well, and parents value the communication and care shown.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' achievement is not consistently secure across the school.
• Important gaps remain in spelling, punctuation, handwriting and number facts for some pupils.
• Pupils with SEND and other barriers to learning do not consistently receive effective adaptations.
• Teaching and curriculum delivery vary between subjects, and staff confidence is uneven.
• The new mathematics curriculum is at an early stage and is not yet delivered consistently well.
• Staff do not routinely identify gaps, misconceptions or errors in presentation.
• Assessment and quality-assurance systems are not thorough enough to identify weaknesses quickly.
• Governors do not use available information well enough to challenge leaders and hold them to account.
• Improvement work sometimes relies too heavily on leaders' detailed knowledge of the school.
• External advice is not always adapted sufficiently to the small mixed-age setting.
• Disadvantaged pupils' combined outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics are below national averages over the latest three years.

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 Ashdon Primary School attended 95.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 2.4% 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 Ashdon 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 Ashdon Primary School had 15.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.7% 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, 17.2% of pupils at Ashdon Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% 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 Ashdon Primary School received £9,374 and spent £9,722 for each of its 58 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £45,000 (£777 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 Saffron Walden · Essex local authority: places and applications

What is Ashdon Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Ashdon Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Ashdon Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Ashdon Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Ashdon Primary School have?

Ashdon Primary School has 58 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ashdon Primary School cover?

Ashdon Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Ashdon Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 20% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Ashdon Primary School?

Ashdon Primary School is at Bartlow Road, Ashdon, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 2HB.