Gotham Primary School

Gotham Primary School is a caring, smaller-than-average primary where pupils attend regularly, feel safe and behave well. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors graded attendance and behaviour and personal development and wellbeing as expected standard, praising strong attendance systems, positive relationships, high-quality pastoral support, and pupils' understanding of respect and diversity. However, the school is not yet at the expected standard in most core areas. Achievement, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, and leadership and governance were all graded as needing attention. The main concern is inconsistency in how well plans and systems are implemented. The curriculum is ambitious and well organised, pupils recall much of the wider curriculum, and pupils with SEND are generally well supported. But leaders do not check the quality and impact of teaching rigorously enough, so not all teachers consistently adapt learning, correct misconceptions or hold high enough expectations. Disadvantaged pupils and some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should. Writing and combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes are below national averages, and disadvantaged gaps are wide, especially in writing. Early reading, phonics, handwriting and early years foundations are inconsistent, meaning some children are not ready for the next stage. Leaders and governors are ambitious and focused on improvement, relationships with parents are positive, and staff wellbeing is valued. Even so, the pace of improvement is sometimes slow or inconsistent because monitoring and evaluation lack precision. The next steps focus on checking improvement work more rigorously, adapting learning for all pupils, strengthening early years foundations, and improving phonics and writing attainment, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those with low prior attainment.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where concerns are identified and acted on.
• Attendance is generally above national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Pupils behave well in and around school, and playtimes are positive and calm.
• Pupils feel safe, care for one another and know staff will deal effectively with bullying, including online abuse.
• The personal development and wellbeing curriculum is well established and promotes British values, equality and respect for diversity.
• Pastoral support is of high quality and helps pupils build resilience and manage day-to-day challenges.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, trips and experiences, with equal access for disadvantaged pupils.
• The curriculum is ambitious and well organised, with careful attention to vocabulary and mixed-age classes.
• Pupils recall much of the wider curriculum and talk enthusiastically and confidently about subjects such as history, art and science.
• Pupils with SEND are well known and generally well supported, with detailed plans and strong work with parents and external agencies.
• Leaders value staff, prioritise training and are considerate of workload and wellbeing; staff are proud to work at the school.
• Relationships with parents are positive, and parents value the sense of community and information about their children.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement requires attention because some disadvantaged pupils and some pupils with SEND do not achieve in line with national expectations.
• Leaders have not systematically checked that assessment systems are used well by all teachers.
• Some teachers do not correct misconceptions or have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve.
• Curriculum and teaching are inconsistent, particularly in phonics, early reading and handwriting.
• Expectations for handwriting are too low in some parts of the school.
• Leaders do not have a precise understanding of teaching quality across the school and do not routinely check consistent implementation of strategies.
• Early years children too often incorrectly form letters, cannot write coherent sentences or read fluently, leaving too many not ready for the next stage.
• Early years achievement, although improving, is just below national averages.
• Staff do not routinely adapt learning for disadvantaged pupils as agreed, so some do not do as well as they could.
• Leadership and governance lack rigour; improvement is sometimes slow or inconsistent because actions are not checked precisely enough.
• Governors need to check more closely on the impact of leaders' actions to increase the pace of improvement.
• Pupils' experiences are inconsistent across the school because improvement strategies are not evaluated precisely enough.
• Disadvantaged pupils' writing outcomes and combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes are below national averages, with wide disadvantaged gaps.

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 Gotham Primary School attended 95.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.0% 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, 2.8% of pupils at Gotham Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Gotham Primary School had 19.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 12.8% of pupils at Gotham Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.8% 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 Gotham Primary School received £7,689 and spent £7,988 for each of its 133 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £65,000 (£491 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 Gotham Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Gotham Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Gotham Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Gotham Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Gotham Primary School have?

Gotham Primary School has 133 pupils on roll.

What age range does Gotham Primary School cover?

Gotham Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

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

In 2025, 48% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Gotham Primary School?

Gotham Primary School is at Kegworth Road, Gotham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG11 0JS.