Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery is a welcoming and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, valued and well supported. Inspectors found calm and respectful behaviour, effective pastoral care and a curriculum tailored to pupils' needs, including strong specialist provision in the deaf resource base. Pupils benefit from a well-sequenced personal development programme and a wide range of enrichment opportunities, and safeguarding arrangements are met. However, there are significant concerns about achievement and early years. Pupils' outcomes at the end of key stage 2 have been below national averages, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, and progress in early years is inconsistent in writing, leaving some children not ready for Year 1. Leaders have started to address these issues, but monitoring and tracking systems are not yet precise enough, and governance capacity has historically been limited. The school has seen significant leadership changes since the last inspection, including a headteacher appointed in January 2023, and leaders are working with the local authority to strengthen governance. Overall, the school has clear strengths in inclusion, behaviour and personal development, but it needs to accelerate improvement in achievement, early years writing and leadership oversight.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe.
• Pupils are calm, respectful and typically behave with purpose.
• Bullying is rare and dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Staff build open, friendly and caring relationships with pupils.
• The curriculum is tailored to pupils' needs and has been improved quickly.
• Teaching uses secure subject knowledge and collaborative talk to develop pupils' oracy.
• Pupils with SEND, including those in the deaf resource base, receive specialist support and high-quality interventions.
• Inclusion is strong, with pupils feeling welcome and barriers to learning identified and overcome quickly.
• Personal development and wellbeing provision is well sequenced and age-appropriate.
• Pupils have a wide range of enrichment opportunities, including sport, music, visits and clubs.
• Pastoral support is effective and staff know pupils and families well.
• Pupils are proud of their school and contribute to improving the outdoor environment.
• Leaders have improved attendance and work closely with families and external agencies.
• Leaders collaborate with other schools and agencies to share effective practice.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' achievement at the end of key stage 2 has been below national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are particularly low in writing and mathematics.
• Too few pupils are academically prepared for their next stage of education.
• Early years staff do not intervene quickly enough to support letter formation.
• The early years writing curriculum does not consistently help children develop and embed writing skills.
• Some children are not ready for Year 1, particularly in writing.
• Monitoring, tracking and evaluation systems are not robust or precise enough.
• Leaders have not responded quickly enough to some areas needing development.
• Governance capacity has historically been limited and needs to become stable, rigorous and sustainable.
• A small group of pupils remain absent too often.
• Overall absence and persistent absence remain above national averages.
• The phonics programme needs to better support transition to key stage 1.
• Work with feeder nurseries needs to be embedded more precisely to improve early years practice.

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 Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery attended 93.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.3% 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, 1.0% of pupils at Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery 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 Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery had 18.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.5% 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, 9.0% of pupils at Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 9 pupils.

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 Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery received £7,159 and spent £7,264 for each of its 301 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £77,000 (£257 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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All schools in Bury St Edmunds · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

What is Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery last inspected by Ofsted?

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery have?

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery has 301 pupils on roll.

What age range does Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery cover?

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 39% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery?

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery is at Brooklands Close, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3JX.