Salhouse CofE Primary School

Salhouse CofE Primary School is a happy and caring school where pupils feel safe and value warm relationships with staff, but the quality of education is not yet strong enough across all year groups. Leaders are ambitious and are making urgent positive changes, and the school has clear strengths in early years, early reading and pupils’ personal development. Safeguarding is effective. However, too many pupils leave the school without being academically prepared for secondary school, and expectations of what pupils can achieve are not consistently high enough. The main concerns are the delivery of the recently redesigned curriculum, which is not yet consistently implemented, and the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, where teaching is not always adapted well enough. Behaviour in lessons is variable because the school’s new rules are not always enforced consistently, and this sometimes disrupts learning. Governors have recently strengthened their quality assurance, but this work is in its infancy and has not yet had a positive impact. The school is federated with two other nearby primary schools, and the executive headteacher took up post in January 2024. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took the pandemic’s impact into account. The early years provision and personal development are good, and pupils benefit from a range of wider opportunities, including sport and the school’s salsa band.

Strengths

• Children make an excellent start in Nursery through a well-established curriculum.
• Well-trained adults interact positively with children and extend their learning.
• Reception children continue to prosper and are suitably prepared for their next stage.
• Early reading is prioritised and staff typically deliver the phonics programme effectively.
• A positive reading culture is developing, and most pupils become fluent and confident readers.
• The curriculum has been redesigned to raise ambition and is carefully sequenced.
• Personal development is a strength, with strong knowledge of different faiths and cultures.
• Pupils are respectful, polite and articulate, and they know how to stay safe, including online.
• Pupils are happy and safe and have trusted adults who care for them.
• Behaviour at social times is well managed, and playtime offers a range of physical activities.
• Pupils have wider opportunities to develop talents, including sporting competitions and the salsa band.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Staff welcome the additional training and support they now receive.

Areas for Improvement

• Expectations for what pupils can do and achieve are not high enough across the curriculum.
• Some pupils, including pupils with SEND, are not encouraged to achieve as well as they could.
• Too many pupils leave the school not academically prepared for secondary school.
• The new curriculum is not yet delivered consistently, and some lessons do not support pupils to learn important knowledge.
• Pupils develop gaps in their knowledge because teaching varies in effectiveness.
• Staff do not always adapt their teaching well enough for pupils with SEND.
• Behaviour rules are not enforced consistently, and negative behaviour is not always addressed effectively.
• Learning in class is sometimes disrupted by the behaviour of others.
• Staff have not been fully trained to manage pupils’ behaviour in an effective way.
• Governors did not rigorously hold leaders to account until recently, and the new quality assurance work is in its infancy.

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 Salhouse CofE Primary School attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.5% 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, 4.9% of pupils at Salhouse CofE 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 Salhouse CofE Primary School had 23.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.5% 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, 23.7% of pupils at Salhouse CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.6% 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 Salhouse CofE Primary School received £8,941 and spent £9,188 for each of its 131 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £23,000 (£172 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 Broadland · Norfolk local authority: places and applications

What is Salhouse CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Salhouse CofE Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Salhouse CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Salhouse CofE Primary School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Salhouse CofE Primary School have?

Salhouse CofE Primary School has 131 pupils on roll.

What age range does Salhouse CofE Primary School cover?

Salhouse CofE Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

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

Where is Salhouse CofE Primary School?

Salhouse CofE Primary School is at Cheyney Avenue, Salhouse, Norfolk, NR13 6RJ.