Westwood Primary School

Westwood Primary School is a welcoming, inclusive and ambitious school where pupils are happy, attend regularly and behave well. This graded inspection followed a previous requires improvement judgement and a change of headteacher in September 2023. Recent curriculum changes are helping more pupils progress, early years provision is particularly strong, and pastoral care, family support and safeguarding are effective. Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, trips and activities. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, reading is prioritised, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Teachers generally have strong subject knowledge and explain new ideas clearly. However, some pupils at the early stages of reading do not get enough practice with well-trained staff, which slows their progress in reading fluency. In some subjects, gaps in pupils' knowledge are not identified or addressed well enough, so some pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The trust provides effective oversight and staff value leaders' support.

Strengths

• Welcoming, inclusive and ambitious school culture with high expectations.
• Pupils are happy, attend regularly, behave well and feel safe.
• Strong pastoral care and effective support for families.
• Broad and ambitious curriculum with recent improvements supporting progress.
• Highly effective early years provision that builds strong foundations.
• Reading is prioritised and phonics is taught well from Reception.
• Pupils with SEND are well supported and learning is carefully adapted.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and explain new ideas clearly.
• Emotional and behavioural needs are managed extremely well.
• Wide range of clubs, trips and personal development opportunities.
• Effective trust oversight and supportive leadership.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils at the early stages of reading do not get enough practice with well-trained staff.
• Not all staff have the knowledge and skills to support pupils effectively in early reading.
• In some subjects, teaching does not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge early enough.
• Gaps in pupils' knowledge are not addressed effectively in some subjects.
• Some pupils do not achieve as well as they could in those subjects.

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 Westwood Primary School attended 93.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.6% 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, 3.3% of pupils at Westwood Primary School 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 Westwood Primary School had 19.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.1% 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, 29.9% of pupils at Westwood Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.1% 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 Westwood Primary School received £6,425 and spent £6,470 for each of its 747 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £385,000 (£515 per pupil).

Across all 36 schools of The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust, income was £7,171 and spending £7,108 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 March · Cambridgeshire local authority: places and applications

Westwood Primary School is part of The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust, which runs 37 schools. The nearest others:

• Cavalry Primary School March
• Elm Road Primary School Wisbech
• Ramnoth Junior School Wisbech
• The Nene Infant & Nursery School Wisbech
• Ramsey Junior School Huntingdon
• Ramsey Spinning Infant School Huntingdon
• Millfield Primary School Ely
• Highlees Primary School Peterborough
• Eyrescroft Primary School Peterborough
• The Hyde School London

What is Westwood Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Westwood Primary School is Good, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Westwood Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Westwood Primary School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Westwood Primary School have?

Westwood Primary School has 742 pupils on roll.

What age range does Westwood Primary School cover?

Westwood Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

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

Where is Westwood Primary School?

Westwood Primary School is at Maple Grove, March, Cambridgeshire, PE15 8JT.