Sherard Primary School

Sherard Primary is a welcoming, inclusive school that is performing securely overall, with safeguarding standards met and most areas of its work at the expected standard. The early years is a notable strength: leaders are highly ambitious, transition arrangements are carefully planned, teaching is consistent, and children settle quickly and achieve well from their starting points. Pupils generally achieve in line with national averages, attendance is good and persistent absence is low, behaviour in lessons is positive, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those in the specialist provision, are well supported. The school has a broad curriculum, systematic phonics, clear teaching and strong pastoral care. Pupils benefit from a well-planned personal development programme, clubs, leadership roles and community activities, and parents and staff are typically positive about the school. Leaders understand the school’s priorities, and governance and trust support are developing well. However, writing remains less secure and the revised approach is not yet embedded consistently across the school. Disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes have improved but historical gaps remain, and leaders do not yet monitor precisely enough the impact of pupil premium funding and enrichment provision. Behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes is less consistent than in lessons, and some older pupils do not have the depth of understanding of diversity that they should. This was a full section 5 inspection of a larger-than-average primary school with a 43-place specialist provision for pupils with complex needs, and the school is part of Mowbray Education Trust. Inspectors’ next steps focus on embedding the revised writing approach and strengthening evaluation of the pupil premium strategy and enrichment provision so leaders know which actions make the most difference.

Strengths

• Early years leadership is highly ambitious and transition arrangements are carefully planned.
• Children in the early years settle quickly and achieve well from their starting points.
• Early years teaching is consistent and builds language, communication, early reading, writing, mathematics and independence.
• Pupils generally achieve in line with national averages, with reading and mathematics broadly secure.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes have improved and are now close to national averages.
• Attendance is a high priority, and persistent absence is lower than national averages.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and positive relationships help staff support them calmly.
• The curriculum is broad, and early reading is taught through a systematic phonics programme.
• Pupils with SEND, including those in the specialist provision, are well supported and make secure progress.
• The specialist provision is well staffed and provides high levels of care, nurture and individual support.
• Leaders identify pupils’ needs early and use support plans to adjust help when needs change.
• Pastoral support is caring and responsive, and pupils benefit from clubs, trips and leadership roles.
• Governance and trust arrangements are developing, and staff are generally positive about working at the school.
• Parents are typically very positive about the school and its inclusive community.

Areas for Improvement

• The revised approach to writing is not yet embedded consistently across the school.
• Pupils’ achievement in writing has been lower than in other curriculum areas in recent years.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes have improved but remain below national averages over the latest three-year period.
• Leaders do not yet monitor the impact of the pupil premium strategy precisely enough.
• Leaders do not yet have a clear enough overview of how enrichment provision builds pupils’ knowledge, confidence and wellbeing over time.
• Pupils do not always respond to routines as quickly at breaktimes and lunchtimes as they do in lessons.
• Some older pupils do not have the necessary depth of understanding of all aspects of diversity.
• Some improvement work is not yet embedded enough to show sustained impact across the school.

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 Sherard Primary School attended 96.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.4% 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, 0.8% of pupils at Sherard 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 Sherard Primary School had 22.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.1% 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, 4.3% of pupils at Sherard Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 20 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 Sherard Primary School received £7,453 and spent £7,808 for each of its 395 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £227,000 (£576 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Mowbray Education Trust Limited, income was £7,598 and spending £7,528 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 Melton Mowbray · Leicestershire local authority: places and applications

Sherard Primary School is part of Mowbray Education Trust Limited, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• Brownlow Primary School Melton Mowbray
• The Grove Primary School Melton Mowbray
• John Ferneley College Melton Mowbray
• Ab Kettleby Primary School Melton Mowbray
• Somerby Primary School Melton Mowbray
• Buckminster Primary School Grantham
• Iveshead School Loughborough

What is Sherard Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sherard Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Sherard Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Sherard Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Sherard Primary School have?

Sherard Primary School has 443 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sherard Primary School cover?

Sherard Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Sherard Primary School?

Sherard Primary School is at Grange Drive, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 1HA.