Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School

Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary is a caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe and trust adults. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school's pastoral support, inclusive ethos and commitment to pupils with complex needs are clear strengths. Leaders have improved the curriculum since the previous inspection, making it broader and better sequenced, and phonics is taught consistently; recent actions have also helped reduce suspensions through a new pathway class. However, pupils' achievement remains uneven and too many do not secure foundational reading, writing and mathematics skills. Attendance is low and persistent absence is high, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, and suspension rates remain high for pupils with SEND. Provision and teaching are not consistently strong: early years is variable, some SEND plans lack clear targets, teachers sometimes move on before misconceptions are resolved, and pupils do not always remember key knowledge. Leadership capacity is limited, and governors' challenge is not robust enough, though leaders have clear priorities and staff morale is high. Pupils' personal development is a mixed picture: they respect differences and value leadership roles, but their understanding of fundamental British values is not secure. The school serves a community with above-average deprivation and well above-average free school meals, and it is part of The Griffin Federation. Overall, the school is taking the right steps but still requires attention across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and personal development.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe and trust adults.
• Pupils are happy, and most behave well in lessons and around school.
• Pastoral support is a strength, with rapid help for pupils and families.
• Leaders have created an inclusive ethos and welcome pupils with complex needs.
• Phonics is securely taught with well-trained staff and a consistent programme.
• The curriculum has been strengthened and is broader, better balanced and more structured.
• Teachers demonstrate secure subject knowledge and lessons have clear purpose.
• Leaders are proactive in tackling attendance through phone calls, home visits, transport and agency work.
• A new pathway class has helped reduce suspensions by providing bespoke support.
• Pupils take pride in leadership roles and access a wide range of clubs.
• The relationships and sex education curriculum teaches pupils how to stay safe online and offline.
• Staff morale is high, and staff feel trusted and supported.
• Recent early years changes have created a calmer environment and improved behaviour and engagement.
• Disadvantaged pupils participate well in wider opportunities, with leaders checking involvement.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement remains uneven, and too many pupils do not secure basic reading, writing and mathematics skills.
• Weak spelling, handwriting and basic writing skills hinder progress across subjects.
• Some pupils cannot read fluently enough to access the wider curriculum, and a few read books that are too hard.
• Pupils do not always remember key knowledge from previous learning.
• Overall attendance is low, and persistent absence remains above national levels.
• Attendance is particularly low for pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those with EHC plans.
• Suspension rates remain high, especially for pupils with SEND.
• Some low-level off-task behaviour still disrupts learning for some pupils.
• Teachers sometimes move on too quickly when pupils show misunderstandings.
• Feedback on writing is not precise enough to help pupils improve.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND often rely on adult help rather than building independence.
• SEND plans lack clear, measurable targets, so adults do not always know what pupils must learn next.
• The current model for some pupils taught outside the main classroom does not fully secure the academic and social curriculum they need.
• Early years provision is variable, with expectations not always high enough and early language development not strong enough.
• Leadership capacity is limited, slowing consistency in teaching, SEND practice and early years provision.
• Governors' challenge of leaders' progress is not as robust as it should be.
• Pupils' understanding of fundamental British values is not secure.
• The school provides few educational visits.
• Parents and carers hold mixed views, with some concerns about safeguarding, behaviour, SEND provision and communication.

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 Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School attended 93.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.0% 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, 6.0% of pupils at Sutton Bridge Westmere Community 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 Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School had 17.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.0% 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, 21.6% of pupils at Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.9% 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 Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School received £9,109 and spent £9,166 for each of its 204 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £192,000 (£939 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 Spalding · Lincolnshire local authority: places and applications

What is Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School have?

Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School has 204 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School cover?

Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 70% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School?

Sutton Bridge Westmere Community Primary School is at Anne Road, Sutton Bridge, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 9TB.