Crabbs Cross Academy

Crabbs Cross Academy is a caring, happy primary school where pupils feel safe and relationships are respectful. The 2024 inspection found personal development and early years provision strong, with a broad curriculum, a clear focus on phonics and reading from Reception, and a good range of clubs and leadership opportunities. Safeguarding arrangements are effective, and pupils with SEND are included in school life. However, the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management require improvement. The pandemic and significant staffing changes have affected provision, and the curriculum is not yet taught consistently well across subjects. Tasks and resources do not always focus sharply on the key knowledge pupils need, assessment is not precise enough to identify gaps, and teaching is not sufficiently adapted for pupils with SEND. Too many pupils, including those with SEND, lose focus or disengage in lessons. Leaders and the trust have an accurate understanding of strengths and weaknesses and staff feel valued, but more work is needed to realise the school's vision. Behaviour is typically calm and negative incidents are reducing, yet low-level disruption is not managed consistently, which limits learning. The school has clear priorities: strengthen subject knowledge and curriculum delivery, improve assessment, adapt teaching for SEND, and manage behaviour consistently.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and are confident to speak to adults if worried.
• Pupils and adults treat one another with respect in a caring, happy school.
• Pupils study a broad range of subjects and take part in memorable activities.
• Phonics is taught from the start of Reception and a love of reading is promoted across year groups.
• Personal development is strong, with clubs, leadership opportunities and learning about health, safety and diversity.
• Pupils with SEND are included in all aspects of school life and staff care about their support.
• Leaders and trust executives have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses.
• Staff feel valued and are committed to working with leaders on improvement.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent across subjects, so pupils do not make the progress expected.
• Tasks and resources do not always focus sharply enough on key subject knowledge.
• Variation in teacher expertise and subject knowledge affects the quality of teaching.
• Assessment checks are not precise enough to identify and address gaps in pupils' learning.
• The curriculum is not sufficiently adapted to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
• Some pupils with SEND disengage because tasks are not broken into manageable chunks.
• Low-level disruption is not managed consistently, so pupils are distracted from learning.
• Too many pupils are not fully engaged in lessons and do not remember what they should.
• Further work is needed before leaders' vision for the school is realised.

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 Crabbs Cross Academy attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.8% 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, 2.5% of pupils at Crabbs Cross Academy 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 Crabbs Cross Academy had 18.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 25.0% 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, 17.6% of pupils at Crabbs Cross Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% 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 2024–25 Crabbs Cross Academy received £7,091 and spent £6,848 for each of its 200 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £71,000 (£354 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of Shires Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,740 and spending £7,633 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Redditch · Worcestershire local authority: places and applications

Crabbs Cross Academy is part of Shires Multi Academy Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• The Vaynor First School Redditch
• St Luke's CofE First School Redditch
• Astwood Bank Primary School Redditch
• Webheath Academy Primary School Redditch
• St George's CofE First School and Nursery Redditch
• Ridgeway Secondary School Redditch
• Studley High School Studley
• Feckenham CofE Primary School Redditch
• Beoley First School Redditch
• North Bromsgrove High School Bromsgrove

What is Crabbs Cross Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Crabbs Cross Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Crabbs Cross Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Crabbs Cross Academy was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Crabbs Cross Academy have?

Crabbs Cross Academy has 165 pupils on roll.

What age range does Crabbs Cross Academy cover?

Crabbs Cross Academy for pupils aged 5 to 9.

Where is Crabbs Cross Academy?

Crabbs Cross Academy is at Evesham Road, Crabbs Cross, Redditch, Worcestershire, B97 5JH.