Waldorf Cambridge School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 July 2025

Pupils enjoy coming to school and feel safe. They trust staff to listen and help when they have worries. They value the respectful atmosphere and feel encouraged to become confident, independent learners. Behaviour is often calm and focused, especially in the early years. Most pupils respond well to routines and clear expectations. A small group, however, find it more difficult to meet these expectations or to attend regularly. Pupils have opportunities to take part in a wide range of exciting experiences, such as sailing and indoor climbing. These help build confidence, teamwork and a spirit of adventure. High expectations underpin the curriculum, though how consistently these translate into daily learning varies. In subjects like art, music, handwork and woodwork, pupils flourish. These lessons are carefully planned, with knowledge built step by step and plenty of chances to practise and apply it. In the early years, teaching meets children's needs well. Regular routines, such as circle time, help children grow as confident speakers and listeners. Across the school, pupils develop well socially and creatively. Reading and writing are not taught as effectively. Pupils at the early stages of learning to read do not always receive timely support that is precisely matched to their needs.

What the school should improve

• Reading and writing support is not consistently effective. Pupils who find English a challenge are not always identified early or accurately. Support, when provided, is sometimes infrequent or not well matched to pupils' needs. This means that some continue to face difficulties with reading fluently or writing with accuracy, which affects their wider learning. The school should develop more consistent systems for identifying gaps in English and ensure that teaching is adapted effectively, so that pupils get timely, targeted help.
• Support for pupils with SEND lacks consistency and clarity. Across the school, approaches to identifying and meeting pupils' needs are uneven. Some support plans are too broad and do not include precise strategies or measures of progress. This affects how well some pupils access learning and make progress. The school should ensure that pupils' needs are identified clearly and addressed through well-planned, consistently implemented strategies.
• The school's approach to identifying and responding to attendance concerns is not consistent, timely or well targeted. As a result, patterns of persistent absence are not consistently addressed early enough to prevent further disengagement. The school should strengthen how it monitors and responds to attendance issues so that action is prompt and effective in reducing persistent absence.
• Behaviour systems are not applied consistently. While most pupils behave well, a small number sometimes act in ways that goes against the school's expectations. Staff do not always use the behaviour policy as intended, and systems for recording and analysing incidents vary. This limits how well patterns are spotted and addressed, particularly for pupils with SEND. The school should ensure that staff follow the behaviour policy consistently and that information about behaviour is used more effectively to guide support and intervention for pupils.
• Oversight of compliance and strategic monitoring of the standards requires strengthening. While some areas such as safer recruitment and health and safety are well monitored, scrutiny of curriculum delivery, behaviour management, support for pupils with SEND and assessment is less rigorous. This has affected full compliance with the standards. The proprietor should ensure that oversight systems provide clear, accurate information to support timely action and maintain full compliance with all relevant standards.

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