Westwood First School

Westwood First School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' grade in all inspected areas, including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school has a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and enjoy learning. The strong support from the Talentum Learning Trust enhances the school's performance, with clear aspirations for pupil development and a well-sequenced curriculum that emphasizes reading and personal growth. Parents express satisfaction with the school's commitment to developing kind and respectful children.

Strengths

• Pupils feel happy and safe at school.
• Staff nurture pupils’ character and promote high aspirations.
• Effective early years provision with skilled staff.
• Strong emphasis on reading and engaging learning experiences.
• Positive relationships among pupils and staff.
• Wide range of enriching opportunities and clubs for pupils.
• Support for pupils with special educational needs is satisfactory.

Areas for Improvement

• Some reading materials do not match the sounds pupils are learning.
• Not all planned activities enable pupils to learn the intended curriculum.

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 First School attended 96.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.9% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Westwood First 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 Westwood First School had 19.3 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, 12.4% of pupils at Westwood First School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.2% 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 First School received £6,243 and spent £6,315 for each of its 267 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £115,000 (£430 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of The Talentum Learning Trust, income was £7,413 and spending £7,300 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 Leek · Staffordshire local authority: places and applications

Westwood First School is part of The Talentum Learning Trust, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• Westwood College Leek
• All Saints CofE First School Leek
• Leek First School Select
• Leek High School Leek
• Churnet View Middle School Leek
• Beresford Memorial CofE First School Leek
• Blackshaw Moor CofE First School Leek
• Rushton CofE First School Macclesfield

What is Westwood First School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Westwood First School is Good, from an inspection in October 2023.

When was Westwood First School last inspected by Ofsted?

Westwood First School was last inspected in October 2023.

How many pupils does Westwood First School have?

Westwood First School has 251 pupils on roll.

What age range does Westwood First School cover?

Westwood First School for pupils aged 5 to 9.

Where is Westwood First School?

Westwood First School is at Westwood Road, Leek, Staffordshire, ST13 8DL.