The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School

The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School is judged good in all key areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. Pupils are happy, feel safe and respond well to the school's high expectations and routines, so lessons are calm and focused. Behaviour is good, relationships are strong, and high-quality pastoral support is available. The school is a maintained primary in the Horizon Schools Federation, with 256 pupils on roll; the headteacher took up post in January 2022, and this was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and behave well in lessons, around school and at breaktimes.
• High expectations and well-established routines create calm lessons where pupils focus on learning.
• Strong caring relationships and high-quality pastoral support help pupils manage feelings and behaviour.
• The broad curriculum has been strengthened over two years and reflects ambition for all pupils, including those with SEND.
• Staff present information clearly, demonstrate good subject knowledge and check pupils' understanding regularly.
• Reading is a priority, with consistent phonics teaching, daily reading and effective early support for weaker readers.
• Support for pupils with SEND is a significant strength, with prompt identification, external advice and clear plans used consistently.
• Children make a positive start in early years, particularly in reading and mathematics, in a calm and engaging environment.
• The school is tenacious about attendance and works with families to improve attendance for pupils who are absent too often.
• Personal development is rich, including leadership roles, clubs, art and music opportunities, visits and fundraising.
• Pupils learn about healthy relationships, safety, tolerance, major faiths and fundamental British values.
• Governors hold leaders to account effectively, fulfil statutory responsibilities and consider staff workload and well-being.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, the school has not established a consistent approach to identifying gaps in pupils' learning, so it cannot precisely identify what pupils need to improve.
• In some foundation subjects, the planned curriculum is not implemented in line with leaders' expectations because core and disciplinary knowledge are not taught consistently well.
• As a result, pupils do not learn some foundation subject content securely or deepen their understanding as well as they could.
• Published 2024 reading outcomes do not reflect the strong progress pupils make in reading in school.

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 The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School attended 93.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.2% 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, 0.8% of pupils at The Donington Cowley Endowed 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 The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School had 19.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.7% 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, 10.8% of pupils at The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.6% 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 The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School received £7,785 and spent £8,033 for each of its 259 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £69,000 (£268 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 The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School have?

The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School has 259 pupils on roll.

What age range does The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School cover?

The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 41% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School?

The Donington Cowley Endowed Primary School is at Towndam Lane, Donington, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE11 4TR.