Story Wood School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 July 2025

Pupils speak with pride about their school and embrace the values of respect, responsibility and resilience that shape their daily experiences. Staff set high expectations of pupils' behaviour which they rise to with smiles on their faces. Pupils have exceptionally positive attitudes to their learning, strive to work hard and behave really positively. The school builds trusting and caring relationships across the whole school community through the strong pastoral support. This helps pupils to feel happy, safe and excited to attend school. The school sets high standards for pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The highly effective provision in reading, writing and mathematics right from the early years enables pupils to consistently reach these high standards by the end of key stage 2 in these subjects. Pupils achieve well across the wider curriculum. The school supports pupils' personal development exceptionally well. Ambitious, inclusive and purposeful experiences contribute to pupils' increased confidence, independence and aspiration as they move through the school. For example, the 'squirrel points' provide pupils with real-life situations that require them to make decisions and set budgets. This helps to build their understanding of finances and economics.

What the school should improve

• The school does not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to relate new learning to what they have learned before in foundation subjects. This makes it harder for some pupils to make links in and remember what they have learned. The school should ensure that pupils have more effective opportunities to develop meaningful links between their current and prior learning to deepen their understanding across the curriculum.

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