Ellesmere Primary School

Ellesmere Primary School is a happy, caring and well-run school where pupils feel safe, behave well and enjoy learning. Inspectors found strong provision across the curriculum, early years, personal development and leadership, with warm relationships, effective support for pupils with SEND and a strong reading culture running through the school. Attendance is good and improving, and pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, visits and responsibilities. The school's broad curriculum is ambitious and has reading and writing woven through every subject, helping pupils apply learning across contexts. Early reading is taught well and pupils become confident, fluent readers who choose to read for pleasure. Staff are well supported, safeguarding is effective, and school and trust leaders work together with a clear understanding of priorities. The main area for improvement is that subject-specific knowledge and skills are not always made clear enough, and some learning activities focus too much on recording work rather than deepening understanding. As a result, pupils do not always remember important concepts and facts as well as they should. This is the school's first section 5 inspection; it has a new headteacher and has recently opened a specially resourced provision for early years and key stage 1 pupils.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, safe and well cared for.
• Pupils are polite, welcoming and respectful to each other.
• Warm relationships and clear 'Ellesmere Way' expectations support positive behaviour.
• Pupils develop effective learning behaviours from the early years.
• Broad and ambitious curriculum with reading and writing woven through all subjects.
• Pupils with SEND are well supported and barriers are identified quickly.
• Strong early reading provision and a culture of reading for pleasure.
• Attendance is good and improving.
• Well-designed personal development programme with clubs, visits and pupil leadership roles.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and benefit from high-quality professional development.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• School and trust leaders work effectively together and know priorities.

Areas for Improvement

• Subject-specific knowledge and skills are not always clear enough to pupils.
• Some learning activities focus too much on recording learning rather than deepening knowledge.
• Pupils do not always remember important concepts and facts as well as they should.

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 Ellesmere Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.0% 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, 0.3% of pupils at Ellesmere 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 Ellesmere Primary School had 23.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 5.4% 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, 16.9% of pupils at Ellesmere Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 14 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 2024–25 Ellesmere Primary School received £6,264 and spent £6,327 for each of its 372 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £37,000 (-£99 per pupil).

Across all 12 schools of North West Academies Trust Limited, income was £7,268 and spending £7,172 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 Ellesmere · Shropshire local authority: places and applications

Ellesmere Primary School is part of North West Academies Trust Limited, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Tilston Parochial CofE Primary Academy Malpas
• Acton Church of England Primary Academy Nantwich
• Millfields Primary Academy Nantwich
• Kingsbourne Academy Nantwich
• The Grosvenor Park Church of England Academy Chester
• Calveley Primary Academy Tarporley
• St Martin's Academy Chester Chester
• Acresfield Academy Chester
• Delamere CofE Primary Academy Tarporley
• The Oak View Academy Winsford

What is Ellesmere Primary School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Ellesmere Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Ellesmere Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Ellesmere Primary School have?

Ellesmere Primary School has 378 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ellesmere Primary School cover?

Ellesmere Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 64% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Ellesmere Primary School?

Ellesmere Primary School is at Elson Road, Ellesmere, Shropshire, SY12 9EU.