Wilfred Owen Primary School

Wilfred Owen Primary School has improved from its previous requires improvement judgement and is now good across all inspected areas. Inspectors found a warm, welcoming and inclusive school where pupils are happy, safe and well supported. Strong pastoral care and a clear focus on social and emotional well-being underpin positive behaviour and a calm, nurturing environment. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, reading is prioritised, and pupils with SEND are supported effectively, so academic outcomes are improving quickly. Early years provision is well organised, personal development is strong, and trust oversight is highly effective. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. The main areas for improvement are writing and punctuality. The school does not yet have a consistent approach to teaching spelling, letter formation and handwriting, which means some pupils do not develop the fluency to write as well as they should. A small number of pupils are also late to school too often, so they miss lesson time and develop gaps in their learning. The school is working with families and external agencies to improve attendance and punctuality, and overall punctuality is improving. The school is an academy converter within Empower Trust. The headteacher was acting headteacher at the previous inspection and has since been appointed substantively. This was a graded inspection under section 5, and schools inspected from September 2024 are not given an overall effectiveness grade.

Strengths

• Warm, welcoming and inclusive school culture where pupils feel valued and safe
• Strong pastoral support focused on pupils’ social and emotional well-being
• High expectations and a broad, ambitious curriculum that is improving outcomes rapidly
• Reading is prioritised from the start, including for pupils with SEND
• Effective support for pupils with SEND, including scaffolds, sensory resources and catch-up help
• Strong professional development and collaborative support across the multi-academy trust
• Well-organised early years provision with strong routines and a love of reading
• Personal development is central, with diversity, tolerance and safety taught well
• Pupils behave well in a calm, nurturing environment and learn to resolve issues thoughtfully
• Attendance is monitored rigorously and families are supported well
• Trust board oversight is clear and highly effective, and staff workload is considered
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• The school lacks a consistent approach to teaching spelling, letter formation and handwriting
• Some pupils do not develop the fluency to write with confidence
• A small number of pupils are late to school too often, missing lesson time and developing gaps
• Strategies with families to improve punctuality need further development

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 Wilfred Owen Primary School attended 92.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.3% 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, 0.5% of pupils at Wilfred Owen 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 Wilfred Owen Primary School had 19.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 13.0% of pupils at Wilfred Owen Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.4% 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 Wilfred Owen Primary School received £9,113 and spent £8,766 for each of its 208 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £332,000 (£1,602 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Empower Trust, income was £7,163 and spending £6,944 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 Shrewsbury · Shropshire local authority: places and applications

Wilfred Owen Primary School is part of Empower Trust, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• Greenacres Primary School Shrewsbury
• St George's Junior School Shrewsbury
• Woodfield Infant School & Nursery Shrewsbury
• St Marys CofE Primary School Shrewsbury
• St Peter's CofE Primary School Shrewsbury
• Market Drayton Junior School Market Drayton
• Market Drayton Infant & Nursery School Market Drayton

What is Wilfred Owen Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Wilfred Owen Primary School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Wilfred Owen Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Wilfred Owen Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Wilfred Owen Primary School have?

Wilfred Owen Primary School has 216 pupils on roll.

What age range does Wilfred Owen Primary School cover?

Wilfred Owen Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

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

Where is Wilfred Owen Primary School?

Wilfred Owen Primary School is at The Monkmoor Campus, Woodcote Way, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 5SH.