Wheatfields Primary School

Wheatfields Primary School is a welcoming and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, cared for and enjoy learning. Inspectors found the school to be good across all key judgements, with a broad and increasingly well-designed curriculum, strong early years provision and effective reading and phonics teaching. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the school has made changes to improve pupils’ achievement over time.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe, welcomed and well cared for in an inclusive school community.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious and increasingly well designed, with important knowledge sequenced logically.
• Early years provision is carefully planned and skilfully delivered, preparing children well for Year 1.
• Provision for pupils with SEND is a strength, with high aspirations and personalised support.
• The phonics programme is well structured and taught consistently by well-trained staff.
• Pupils develop reading fluency through a well-organised reading scheme and regular practice across subjects.
• Teachers explain learning clearly and deliver it step by step.
• Behaviour in lessons is calm and orderly, and most pupils are enthusiastic and motivated learners.
• Pupils understand values of resilience and reflection and show respect for staff.
• Pupils benefit from clubs, responsibilities and school and eco-councils that help them become responsible citizens.
• Leaders and governors are outward-looking and use external guidance and staff training to develop the school.
• Most parents are positive and appreciate opportunities to visit the school and share books with their children.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Teachers’ checks on pupils’ understanding are sometimes not thorough, so misconceptions are not always identified.
• Some pupils move on to new learning before they are ready.
• At playtimes and lunchtimes, some pupils do not consistently show respect for others.
• Some staff do not consistently uphold high expectations of behaviour outside lessons.

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 Wheatfields Primary School attended 95.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.5% 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, 1.3% of pupils at Wheatfields 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 Wheatfields Primary School had 21.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.7% 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, 13.6% of pupils at Wheatfields Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.4% 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 Wheatfields Primary School received £7,168 and spent £7,551 for each of its 287 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £186,000 (-£647 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 St Ives · Cambridgeshire local authority: places and applications

What is Wheatfields Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Wheatfields Primary School is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Wheatfields Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Wheatfields Primary School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Wheatfields Primary School have?

Wheatfields Primary School has 287 pupils on roll.

What age range does Wheatfields Primary School cover?

Wheatfields Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Wheatfields Primary School?

Wheatfields Primary School is at Nene Way, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 3WF.