Ashurst Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 6 May 2026

This is a happy school. Highly positive relationships and staff's warm greetings help pupils to feel secure and part of the ‘Ashurst family’. Pupils enjoy one another’s company. They often give staff and each other a friendly greeting as they pass them in the corridors. It is unusual for pupils to fall out. Pupils feel safe. They confidently put their trust in staff. Pupils know that staff care about them and will deal quickly with any worries that they might have, including bullying, Pupils are inspired to ‘learn, live, laugh and love’ and to aspire to ‘Excellence everyday’. They have a well developed understanding of the importance of respect and kindness for each other from a young age. As a result, classrooms are industrious and social times enjoyable and harmonious. Staff are ambitious for pupils. In the early years, children learn the essential building blocks of knowledge. This supports pupils' progress through the curriculum as they move from class to class. Leaders successfully recognise and reduce barriers for pupils facing challenges in their lives, ensuring that they benefit from all that the school has to offer. Most pupils attend regularly and, overall, they achieve well. Pupils’ confidence and self-esteem is built through the school's wider development offer. They endeavour to achieve weekly ‘GRIT’ awards in recognition of their ‘Growth, Resilience, Independence and Teamwork’. Pupils are keen to make a positive difference to school life. They are thrilled to be trusted by staff with special helper roles, such as being ‘B’s buddies’, subject ambassadors and reading stories to younger pupils at breakfast club. Pupils regularly share their ideas about how to make their school even better. Recently, they have chosen a new owl mascot for their school.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should continue to focus on improving older pupils’ handwriting, grammar and spelling knowledge so that pupils are able to apply these key skills more consistently and achieve all that they can in writing.
• Leaders should ensure that, in subjects beyond English and mathematics, they support staff to further develop their use of checks on pupils’ most important prior knowledge, so that pupils’ new learning builds more securely on what they already know.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)