Cromwell Academy

About Cromwell Academy

Cromwell Academy, a state primary in Huntingdonshire, has turned a corner academically. Its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2021 awarded it a Good rating across all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and early years provision. This marks a clear improvement from its previous inspection in 2019, when the school was rated Requires Improvement overall. The turnaround is reflected in the school's Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24, which tell a mixed but encouraging story. While the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 55%, this sits just below the local authority average of 58%. However, reading is a standout area: 84% of pupils met the expected standard, and 42% achieved a higher standard — well above typical primary benchmarks. Maths also performed solidly, with an average scaled score of 104 and 71% reaching the expected level.

Digging deeper into the data, the school's overall ranking in Huntingdonshire places it 116th out of 210 primary schools, putting it in the bottom half of the local authority. Nationally, it sits in the 68th percentile, meaning roughly a third of schools nationwide perform worse on the combined reading, writing and maths measure. The proportion of pupils reaching the higher standard in all three subjects is just 6%, which is low, though writing and maths higher-standard scores are similarly modest at 6% and 19% respectively. Reading remains the clear strength, with a higher-standard rate of 42% that suggests effective teaching in this area. The school has a higher-than-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 22.2%, which may partly contextualise the results. With 233 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210, the school is oversubscribed, receiving 68 applications for 30 places in 2025/26, with 36 first-preference applications.

Cromwell Academy offers a broad range of facilities including a sports hall, playing fields, a forest school, gymnasium, music rooms and a chapel. Sports provision covers gymnastics, tennis, football, netball, cricket, rounders and dance, while clubs include film, coding, art and chess. The school has a nursery provision for children from age two, and its SEND support covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families prioritising a school that has demonstrably improved its Ofsted rating and offers strong reading outcomes alongside a wide extracurricular programme, Cromwell Academy is a solid local option. The oversubscription figures suggest it is a popular choice among local parents, though the academic results indicate that families with very high expectations for combined attainment at the higher standard may want to look at the top-performing peers in the area, such as Histon and Impington Brook Primary School.

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