🕵️ Ofsted
Ofsted Inspection - April 2026
We welcomed Ofsted to Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School on 28th and 29th April 2026. The inspection was carried out under Ofsted's new inspection framework, which no longer gives schools a single overall judgement. Instead, schools are assessed against a number of separate standards.
This framework uses a secure-fit approach rather than a best-fit approach. This means inspectors judge whether each individual standard has been fully met, rather than balancing strengths and areas for development to arrive at one overall judgement. As a result, reports can sometimes appear more critical than parents might expect, even where inspectors recognise many strengths within a school.
The report identifies many positive features of life at Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School, including:
✅ A warm and welcoming school where pupils feel happy and safe.
✅ Safeguarding standards are met.
✅ Early Years provision meets the Expected Standard, with children making good progress and developing the confidence and resilience needed for Year 1.
✅ Inclusion meets the Expected Standard, with pupils' needs identified early and supported effectively. The report highlights the positive impact of our Beehive provision for pupils with SEND.
✅ Personal Development and Wellbeing meets the Expected Standard, recognising our values-based approach, pastoral care and wider opportunities for pupils.
✅ A broad and balanced curriculum, exciting learning experiences and improvements in writing and phonics teaching.
It is worth noting that Nursery and Reception together account for almost half of the pupils in our school. Therefore, the positive judgement for Early Years reflects the experience of a significant proportion of our children.
The report also identifies areas for further development. These are focused on:
• strengthening assessment in some curriculum subjects, particularly within parts of the wider curriculum such as history and geography;
• further developing handwriting and transcription skills;
• sharpening attendance analysis and evaluation;
• strengthening governors' evaluation of the impact of actions, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
Since the inspection took place in April 2026, we have already taken further action in each of these areas and this work continues.
Read the full Ofsted report
Ofsted Parent View
We are proud of our pupils, staff, governors and wider community and remain committed to building on the many strengths recognised in the report while continuing to improve outcomes for every child.
We welcome feedback from parents and carers — it helps us to keep improving and growing as a school community.
Recent feedback from parents and carers can be found here.
Please see the following links to our previous Ofsted Reports. You can view these on the Ofsted website.
