Vista Academy Littleport

Vista Academy Littleport is a new academy, established in 2023 and part of the Eastern Learning Alliance trust, and this inspection found that leaders have made significant improvements. The school is now a calm, positive and safe environment where pupils feel safe, behaviour is generally good, attendance has risen close to national averages, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities attend very well. Safeguarding standards are met, and most areas of the school's work are judged to be at the expected standard, including attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe
• The school has become a calm, positive and safe learning environment
• Pupils understand and mostly meet high behaviour expectations
• Attendance has improved and is now close to national averages for all groups
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities attend very well
• A broad and ambitious new curriculum has been built since the academy opened
• Staff have been well trained to teach the intended curriculum
• Pupils who struggle with reading receive effective support
• SEND needs are accurately identified and effectively planned for
• Leaders have established a positive, ambitious culture with significant improvements
• Trustees and trust leaders rigorously check safeguarding and education quality
• Staff wellbeing is well supported and staff turnover is very low
• The character curriculum develops pupils' safety, health and relationship knowledge
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, trips, careers guidance and work experience
• Pupils feel safe and rare bullying or unkind behaviour is dealt with swiftly

Areas for Improvement

• Published outcomes for progress and attainment are well below national averages
• Older pupils often have important gaps in their knowledge
• Some pupils struggle to articulate their ideas orally and on paper
• Historic weaknesses in teaching and curriculum still affect pupils' achievement
• Teaching and curriculum delivery are not yet consistently strong across the school
• Staff sometimes do not close pupils' knowledge gaps quickly enough in lessons
• Literacy across the curriculum needs further development
• A minority of pupils do not engage fully in some PSHE lessons
• Some pupils do not engage as well when curriculum delivery or adjustments are weaker
• Suspensions remain high for some groups of pupils
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are well below national averages

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 Vista Academy Littleport attended 91.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 26.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 13.5% of pupils at Vista Academy Littleport were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 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 Vista Academy Littleport had 15.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 18.8% of pupils at Vista Academy Littleport were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Vista Academy Littleport received £7,753 and spent £7,908 for each of its 532 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £156,000 (£293 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Eastern Learning Alliance, income was £9,220 and spending £9,179 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 Ely · Cambridgeshire local authority: places and applications

Vista Academy Littleport is part of Eastern Learning Alliance, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• Witchford Village College Ely
• Downham Market Academy Downham Market
• Impington Village College Cambridge
• The Cavendish School Impington
• Girton Glebe Primary School Cambridge
• Chesterton Community College Cambridge
• Cambridge Maths School Cambridge

What is Vista Academy Littleport's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Vista Academy Littleport is Needs attention, from an inspection in February 2026.

When was Vista Academy Littleport last inspected by Ofsted?

Vista Academy Littleport was last inspected in February 2026.

How many pupils does Vista Academy Littleport have?

Vista Academy Littleport has 547 pupils on roll.

What age range does Vista Academy Littleport cover?

Vista Academy Littleport for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Vista Academy Littleport's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.3, and 33% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Vista Academy Littleport?

Vista Academy Littleport is at Camel Road, Ely, CB6 1EW.