Whitehills Primary School

Whitehills Primary School is a caring and welcoming school where pupils feel safe, behave well and attend regularly. Pupils typically achieve well, reading is central to the school’s work, and the early years provision gives children a strong start, especially in phonics. Personal development is a notable strength, with pupils taking on responsibilities and benefiting from a wide range of trips, clubs and cultural experiences. Safeguarding is effective. The main concerns relate to provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school is ambitious for these pupils, but systems for overseeing and reviewing SEND provision are not well established, staff do not consistently receive clear and up-to-date information or training, and in-class support varies in quality. As a result, some pupils with SEND are not challenged or supported well enough to achieve as they should, and targets in education, health and care plans are not consistently broken down into manageable steps. Governors have also been too slow to help address these inconsistencies. In some foundation subjects, assessment systems are not fully developed, so teachers cannot always check precisely what pupils know and remember. This is the school’s first routine inspection since 2015, following a period of exemption as an outstanding school, and there has been a change of headteacher since the previous inspection. The curriculum has been refined and is ambitious, but the inspection found that quality of education and leadership and management require improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision are good.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and well cared for, and bullying is rare.
• Pupils behave well, engage with learning and attend school regularly.
• Pupils typically achieve well and respond to the school’s high academic expectations.
• Reading is at the heart of the school, with a strong phonics start in Reception and effective extra help.
• Pupils enjoy reading for pleasure and benefit from reading buddies, library visits and reading rewards.
• Personal development is well planned, with rich cultural, musical, sporting and residential experiences.
• Pupils develop respect and tolerance and can take on leadership roles such as school councillors and playground buddies.
• Early years provision is good, with an ambitious curriculum and inviting reading spaces.
• Staff value the consideration given to their workload and well-being and enjoy working as a team.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Systems to check the quality of education for the growing number of pupils with SEND are not well established.
• Staff do not consistently receive clear, up-to-date information and training on how to support pupils with SEND.
• In-class support for pupils with SEND is inconsistent and sometimes lacks suitable challenge.
• Targets for pupils with EHC plans are not consistently broken down into manageable, achievable steps.
• Some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could because provision is not systematically reviewed and adapted.
• Assessment systems in some foundation subjects are not fully developed, making it difficult to know what pupils understand and remember.
• Governors have not worked quickly enough with leaders to address inconsistencies in SEND provision.

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 Whitehills Primary School attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.3% 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 Whitehills 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 Whitehills Primary School had 24.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.1% 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, 11.1% of pupils at Whitehills Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.4% 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 Whitehills Primary School received £6,287 and spent £6,264 for each of its 415 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £172,000 (£415 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 Whitehills Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Whitehills Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Whitehills Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Whitehills Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Whitehills Primary School have?

Whitehills Primary School has 415 pupils on roll.

What age range does Whitehills Primary School cover?

Whitehills Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Whitehills Primary School?

Whitehills Primary School is at Acre Lane, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN2 8DF.