Wolsey House Primary School

Wolsey House Primary School is a large, above-average-sized primary school in an area of above-average deprivation, with high proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals and SEN support. The school has had significant leadership change since its last inspection, including a new headteacher, and inspectors found the new team has brought clear direction and early impact. Safeguarding is met. Across the inspected areas, the school is meeting the expected standard: pupils, many of whom start with very low skills and little or no English, make steady progress and develop secure basic skills, especially in early reading. Strengths include calm and purposeful behaviour, warm relationships, effective phonics teaching, improving attendance and strong pastoral and inclusion work. Early years provision is a notable positive, with children settling well and receiving good communication, language and early reading support. Leaders, governors and staff work purposefully, and parents are mostly positive about the care and direction of the school. The main concerns are that persistent absence remains too high, writing outcomes and the disadvantaged gap in writing are weaker than national figures, and pupils do not always sustain rapid progress in foundational knowledge across the wider curriculum. SEND systems have improved but are still new, and leaders need to sharpen curriculum adaptation so education, health and care plans are consistently reflected in classroom practice. Some pupils also recall British values and protected characteristics less securely than others.

Strengths

• Pupils make steady progress from very low starting points and develop secure basic skills.
• Pupils who arrive with little or no English learn to read securely.
• Daily phonics teaching is clear and consistent, helping pupils read with confidence.
• Pupils improve their spelling, handwriting and sentence writing and take pride in their work.
• Pupils behave well, and classrooms are calm and purposeful.
• Pupils treat each other with kindness and respect, and bullying is rare.
• Attendance has improved over time, especially for pupils who previously missed a lot of school.
• Early years children feel safe, happy and settled, with strong support for communication, language and early reading.
• The school works hard to remove barriers to learning and supports pupils with SEND effectively.
• Leaders and governors provide clear direction and focus decisions on pupils' needs.
• Pastoral support and personal development help pupils feel safe, supported and resilient.
• Pupils access a wide range of clubs, trips and enrichment activities that broaden their experiences.

Areas for Improvement

• Persistent absence remains too high, and some pupils miss school more often than leaders would like.
• Writing outcomes are below national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils.
• Disadvantaged pupils' progress and outcomes still leave a wide gap compared with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Pupils need to sustain rapid progress in foundational knowledge so gaps close consistently across the wider curriculum.
• Curriculum adaptation for some pupils with SEND needs greater precision, including consistent reflection of education, health and care plans.
• Recent SEND system improvements are new, and leaders are still checking how well they work in daily practice.
• Some pupils do not remember fundamental British values and protected characteristics as clearly as others.

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 Wolsey House Primary School attended 93.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 21.4% 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, 0.2% of pupils at Wolsey House 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 Wolsey House Primary School had 21.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.8% 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, 18.6% of pupils at Wolsey House Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.1% 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 Wolsey House Primary School received £7,874 and spent £7,975 for each of its 562 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £74,000 (-£131 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).

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What is Wolsey House Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Wolsey House Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Wolsey House Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Wolsey House Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Wolsey House Primary School have?

Wolsey House Primary School has 576 pupils on roll.

What age range does Wolsey House Primary School cover?

Wolsey House Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 51% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Wolsey House Primary School?

Wolsey House Primary School is at Beaumont Leys Lane, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE4 2BB.