Alfred Lord Tennyson School

Alfred Lord Tennyson School was formed in September 2023 through the amalgamation of two predecessor schools and is now a cohesive community across two sites. This inspection found that the quality of education requires improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision are good. Safeguarding is effective, and the school is on an upward trajectory under ambitious leadership with a clear vision and good capacity to improve further.

Strengths

• Pupils are well looked after and kept safe
• Behaviour and attitudes are good
• Personal development is good
• Leadership and management are good, including strong governance
• Early years provision is good and children get off to a good start
• The phonics programme is systematic, well organised and taught consistently well
• Pupils with SEND achieve well and their needs are fully understood and catered for
• The PSHE programme prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain
• Pupils are supported well, including the growing number who speak English as an additional language
• The school has made much progress since amalgamation and is one cohesive community

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement
• The curriculum is at an early stage of implementation and pupils do not consistently remember what they have been taught
• In some subjects, curricula have been assembled from different resources without coherent logical sequencing
• Some lessons require pupils to complete tasks in a fixed order, so work is sometimes too easy or too hard
• Some pupils do not get to undertake activities designed to help them think more deeply
• Subject leaders are at an early stage and have not yet fully influenced teaching and curriculum implementation

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 Alfred Lord Tennyson School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.7% 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, 3.2% of pupils at Alfred Lord Tennyson 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 Alfred Lord Tennyson School had 17.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.7% 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, 21.8% of pupils at Alfred Lord Tennyson School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.1% 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 Alfred Lord Tennyson School received £8,653 and spent £9,228 for each of its 147 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £138,000 (-£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 Rushden · North Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

What is Alfred Lord Tennyson School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Alfred Lord Tennyson School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Alfred Lord Tennyson School last inspected by Ofsted?

Alfred Lord Tennyson School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Alfred Lord Tennyson School have?

Alfred Lord Tennyson School has 147 pupils on roll.

What age range does Alfred Lord Tennyson School cover?

Alfred Lord Tennyson School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Alfred Lord Tennyson School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 50% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Alfred Lord Tennyson School?

Alfred Lord Tennyson School is at Alfred Street, Rushden, Northamptonshire, NN10 9YS.