Templars Academy

Templars Academy is recognized for its strong sense of community and effective educational environment. The school has made notable progress since its last inspection, particularly in enhancing its curriculum and supporting students' confidence and learning engagement. The staff's commitment to understanding each child's needs has contributed to positive outcomes, especially in early years education. However, challenges remain, particularly in ensuring consistent reading fluency among older pupils and addressing attendance issues.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and are well-behaved.
• The curriculum is ambitious, broad, and well-sequenced.
• Teaching is lively and engaging, effectively checking on pupil understanding.
• The school offers strong support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
• School ethos fosters a sense of community and respect for diversity.

Areas for Improvement

• Some older pupils do not read as fluently as they should due to gaps in phonics knowledge.
• Subject leaders' oversight of the curriculum effectiveness is not sufficiently sharp.
• A significant minority of pupils have low attendance, impacting their learning.

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 Templars Academy attended 92.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 23.7% 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, 2.0% of pupils at Templars Academy 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 Templars Academy had 24.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 28.4% 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, 18.4% of pupils at Templars Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.5% 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 Templars Academy received £6,106 and spent £5,791 for each of its 406 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £391,000 (£963 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of Inspires Mat, income was £6,646 and spending £6,280 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 Witham · Essex local authority: places and applications

Templars Academy is part of Inspires Mat, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Witham Oaks Academy Witham
• Silver End Academy Witham
• Kings Ford Academy Colchester
• Cherry Tree Academy Colchester

What is Templars Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Templars Academy is Good, from an inspection in June 2024.

When was Templars Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Templars Academy was last inspected in June 2024.

How many pupils does Templars Academy have?

Templars Academy has 412 pupils on roll.

What age range does Templars Academy cover?

Templars Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Templars Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 42% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Templars Academy?

Templars Academy is at Cressing Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 2NJ.