Ofsted put four areas at the expected standard and three as needing attention. The deaf resource base drew praise; the disadvantage gap stands at 49 points.
Ofsted has graded Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery at the expected standard in four areas and said three others need attention. The report on the Brooklands Close school in Bury St Edmunds was published on 8 September 2026, from an inspection on 23 June (full report).
Safeguarding standards were met.
There is no overall grade. Ofsted now publishes a separate judgement for each area on a five-point scale, running from exceptional, through strong standard, expected standard and needs attention, to urgent improvement.
How the seven areas landed
At the expected standard:
- attendance and behaviour
- curriculum and teaching
- inclusion
- personal development and wellbeing
Needs attention:
- achievement
- early years
- leadership and governance
Ofsted defines needs attention as the expected standards not being met, but with leaders “likely able to make the necessary improvements”.
What inspectors liked
The strongest passages in the report are about inclusion and the school’s deaf resource base, a specialist provision for pupils with hearing impairment.
Inspectors wrote that pupils in the base “benefit from specialist support and high-quality interventions”, including adaptive strategies, hearing devices and British Sign Language, and that they develop their “deaf identity” through bespoke support. Staff working in the provision get ongoing training from specialists.
That work runs through the rest of the school. There is a British Sign Language club alongside a sewing club, the school choir and ballet classes, and Ofsted noted these are scheduled so every group of pupils can attend, with pupil premium money used to make them affordable.
On behaviour, the report says classrooms are calm and orderly and that “bullying is rare”, and when it happens pupils say it is dealt with quickly. On the school’s ethos, inspectors recorded that pupils are “proud to attend this welcoming community primary school” and can explain the school’s rule of “be kind in what you do and say”.
Pupils also helped design the school grounds, which now include bee areas, vegetable gardens and a forest area.
Where it fell short
Achievement is the area with the hardest wording. Inspectors wrote: “In the past, pupils have not achieved as well as they should at the end of key stage 2. This is particularly the case for disadvantaged pupils.”
The data published with the report backs that up. In 2024-25, 39% of Westgate pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. The national average was 62%.
For disadvantaged pupils the gap is wider still.
| Year | Westgate disadvantaged pupils | National, non-disadvantaged | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 11% | 66% | 55 points |
| 2023-24 | 39% | 67% | 29 points |
| 2024-25 | 20% | 69% | 49 points |
Reading is the school’s better subject. Its disadvantaged pupils averaged 62% over three years, level with the national figure for disadvantaged pupils. Writing is the weakest: a three-year average of 31%, against 59% nationally.
In the early years, inspectors found the curriculum does not consistently let children embed their writing, and that staff “do not intervene quickly enough to support children with letter formation”. Some children are not ready for Year 1 as a result.
On leadership, the report says leaders “have not responded quickly enough to some elements of the school’s work that require further development” and that monitoring and tracking systems are not precise enough. Governors are credited with challenging leaders, but Ofsted records that “historically, their capacity has been limited”, and that the school and Suffolk County Council have recently taken steps to fix it.
Attendance is improving but still behind. Overall absence was 6.2% in 2024-25 against 5.2% nationally, and 17.3% of pupils were persistently absent against 13.0%.
The three things Ofsted told the school to do
- Make the systems for monitoring, tracking and evaluating the school’s work more robust and precise, so leaders can identify priorities quickly and speed up improvement.
- Work with the local authority to develop the governing body so governance is stable, rigorous and sustainable.
- Refine the early years curriculum, particularly writing, so children transition well into key stage 1.
The context inspectors were given
Westgate has 292 pupils in a school built for 446. Just under 30% have been eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years, above the national figure of 26.3%. Pupils with an education, health and care plan make up 4.79%, above the national 3.5%. Pupils on SEN support make up 11.30%, below the national 15%.
The headteacher, Rhonda Kidd, took up the post in January 2023, and the report notes there have also been significant changes to the rest of the senior leadership team since the last inspection in January 2022. The chair of governors is Gareth Russell. The inspection was led by Ross Marks, His Majesty’s Inspector, with inspectors Luke Wildig and Debonair Brown.
What it means for you
If you are choosing a primary school, the useful move is to read the report rather than the headline. There is no single grade to compare schools on any more, so two schools with the same number of “expected standard” areas can be very different places.
Three things to take from this one:
- If your child is deaf or hearing impaired, the report is unusually specific about what the resource base does, and it is the most positively worded part of the inspection.
- If your child is in the early years or joining Reception, writing and letter formation are the named weakness, and the improvement work is at an early stage.
- If you are looking at key stage 2 results, the attainment figures are below national averages and have been for three years. Ofsted says teaching has improved and assessments are now more accurate, but the outcomes have not caught up yet.
Families comparing parts of the town may also want our Bury St Edmunds house prices page, which tracks what homes actually sell for across West Suffolk.
Sources: Ofsted inspection report for Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery, URN 124552, inspected 23 June 2026 and published 8 September 2026, including the school and pupil context data and performance tables printed with it. Reproduced under the Open Government Licence.
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