The Old School House

  • Special
  • Independent
  • Ages 6 to 16
Ofsted: Good

1 March Road, Friday Bridge, Wisbech, PE14 0HAOpen in maps (opens in a new tab)

The Old School House is a special school in Wisbech for ages 6 to 16. It is one of the 309 schools in Cambridgeshire. Its latest Ofsted rating is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

Ofsted inspection

Inspected 3 June 2025, report published 2 July 2025

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding
Met

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 June 2025

The Old School House is a welcoming place. Pupils are friendly and well-mannered. They thrive in the school's close, family atmosphere. Over time, pupils develop warm, trusting relationships with staff. These help pupils to feel safe and enable them to enjoy school in a way that they have not done previously. Attendance at the school is high. Clear boundaries and well-established routines help pupils to behave well. They listen attentively in lessons, to their teachers and to each other. There is a strong culture of respect here. All pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including social and emotional difficulties. When pupils struggle to regulate their emotions, staff support them to reset so they are ready to learn. Pupils' needs are very well met. Pupils like playing card and board games at social times. They enjoy opportunities to venture outside the school. For example, they go to a local park for sports activities or to the shops to buy ingredients for cooking. Pupils relish their trips further afield, such as visits to a science centre and an outdoor leisure park. These enhance pupils' learning and develop various life skills such as resilience and independence.

What the school should improve

  • In some wider curriculum subjects, the curriculum is not taught in a coherent sequence towards clearly identified endpoints. As a result, pupils do not build secure knowledge of the key learning in these subjects as well as they could do. The school should ensure that it sets out a clearly sequenced curriculum with identified endpoints and supports staff to deliver this effectively in all subjects so that pupils build their knowledge securely.
  • Occasionally, staff subject knowledge is not as strong as it could be. This means that sometimes staff do not address errors or misconceptions effectively. This hinders pupils' progress and means that some misconceptions persist. The school should support staff subject knowledge and build staff confidence so that pupils learn as well as possible in all subjects.

Pupil numbers and mix

11 pupils on roll, with places for 15

Special educational needs support0%

0%, 14.8 percentage points below the England average of 14.8%.

Education, health and care plan100%

100%, 94 percentage points above the England average of 6%.

Schools near The Old School House

SchoolDistanceOfstedResults
Shelldene House School0.2 milesOfsted: GoodNot published
Cambian Home Tree School0.8 milesOfsted: GoodAttainment 8: 9.2
Begdale House School1 mileNo Ofsted inspectionNot published
Meadowgate Academy3 milesOfsted: Outstanding0% met the expected standard
On Track Education Wisbech3 milesReport card: Expected standard to strong standardAttainment 8: 1.3

School details

School type
Other independent special school
Sector
Independent
Age range
6 to 16
Gender
Boys
Headteacher
Miss Susan Clark
Address
1 March Road, Friday Bridge, Wisbech, PE14 0HA
Local authority
Cambridgeshire
URN
133651

School details from Get Information about Schools, 17 September 2026. Ofsted outcomes published to 31 August 2026. Pupil mix from the school census, 2025/26.