Featherby Infant and Nursery School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 12 May 2026

Pupils are known as individuals at Featherby Infant and Nursery School. Staff get to know all pupils and their families well. They do everything possible to ensure that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those from other disadvantaged groups, have a positive experience at school and thrive. Pupils benefit from leaders’ belief that all pupils should develop a love of reading. Pupils are exposed to high-quality texts that spark a love of books, which is evident throughout the school. Leaders liken pupils’ knowledge at the beginning of their time at Featherby to a ‘hungry caterpillar’ and aim that by the time they leave, their knowledge is soaring, like a butterfly. Pupils feel safe and trust adults to help them with any worries. Pupils play cooperatively and include others, so playtimes feel busy and carefree. Children understand the school’s expectations for positive behaviour from the early years. Pupils understand what bullying is and trust staff to act when concerns arise. When pupils need support to manage their own behaviour, staff act quickly to provide this. Pupils are excited by their learning and are keen to share what they know. They benefit from a range of other experiences beyond the curriculum, such as watching ducklings hatch from eggs. Pupils generally achieve well at this school and are ready for the next stage of their education. Leaders design support for pupils with SEND effectively. This helps pupils to overcome barriers to learning and wellbeing. Although teaching is generally clear, some subjects in the wider curriculum are not taught as effectively as they could be. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their understanding, so they do not build their knowledge across the wider curriculum as effectively as they could. Leaders prioritise improving attendance and are sharply focused on ensuring that pupils attend regularly.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should further develop systems to ensure that the curriculum is implemented in line with their intentions so that pupils build secure knowledge and skills cumulatively across the full breadth of the curriculum.
• Leaders should strengthen staff’s expertise in making accurate assessments to deliver precise and targeted feedback in foundational skills to help pupils improve their work and develop increasing accuracy over time.

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