John Wheeldon Primary Academy

John Wheeldon Primary Academy has made significant strides since its last inspection in 2017, where it was graded as requiring improvement. The school is now considered to be performing well overall, maintaining a 'Good' rating across various aspects including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school's commitment to pupil well-being and a positive learning environment is evident, as is its ambition for students to achieve their potential. While pupils demonstrate good learning outcomes, particularly in reading and mathematics, there's a noted inconsistency in the delivery of history, geography, and modern foreign languages.

Strengths

• High expectations for pupil achievement.
• Active promotion of health and well-being alongside academics.
• Strong community engagement and positive relationships among students and staff.
• Well-structured and engaging PE lessons.
• Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Ambitious leadership with clear goals for improvement.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent planning and delivery in history, geography, and modern foreign languages.
• Assessment practices in writing are not effectively improving pupil outcomes.
• Lack of focus on developing mathematical vocabulary across all classes.

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 John Wheeldon Primary Academy attended 94.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.1% 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 John Wheeldon Primary 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 John Wheeldon Primary Academy had 21.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.7% 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, 17.9% of pupils at John Wheeldon Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.1% 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 John Wheeldon Primary Academy received £6,093 and spent £5,840 for each of its 538 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £616,000 (£1,146 per pupil).

Across all 21 schools of Staffordshire University Academies Trust, income was £7,351 and spending £7,265 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 Stafford · Staffordshire local authority: places and applications

John Wheeldon Primary Academy is part of Staffordshire University Academies Trust, which runs 21 schools. The nearest others:

• St Leonard's CofE First School Stafford
• All Saints CofE Primary School, Bednall Stafford
• Church Eaton Primary School Stafford
• Littleton Green Community School Cannock
• Staffordshire University Academy Cannock
• St Paul's CofE First School Wolverhampton
• Tynsel Parkes CofE Primary Academy Uttoxeter
• Boney Hay Primary Academy Burntwood
• Westlands Primary School Newcastle-Under-Lyme
• St Augustine's CofE Academy Ashbourne

What is John Wheeldon Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for John Wheeldon Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was John Wheeldon Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

John Wheeldon Primary Academy was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does John Wheeldon Primary Academy have?

John Wheeldon Primary Academy has 536 pupils on roll.

What age range does John Wheeldon Primary Academy cover?

John Wheeldon Primary Academy for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are John Wheeldon Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 69% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is John Wheeldon Primary Academy?

John Wheeldon Primary Academy is at Corporation Street, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST16 3LX.