Ofsted confirmed the school has maintained the standards identified in its previous inspection after a visit by the education regulator on 11 and 12 March 2025.

The report praised the school’s ambitious curriculum which encompasses the school’s vision, ‘to become the best you can be, for learning, for life, for future success,’ and the school’s values which are evident in the pupil’s exemplary attitudes.

Other strengths highlighted were:

• Pupils enjoy coming to school and rise to the high expectations of achievement and behaviour set by the school.
• Children develop a love of learning through engaging classroom learning.
• Pupils' activities in school take them beyond their current life experiences and the extensive range of clubs further inspires their interest.
• Pupils proudly adopt leadership roles that help others, such as emotion coaching leaders, sports leaders, team captains and school councillors. This encourages pupils to develop as confident and responsible leaders.
• Staff know their pupils extremely well and are highly sensitive to their individual needs. As a result the school precisely identifies the needs of pupils with SEND.
• The school celebrates diversity and pupils have many opportunities to debate moral and ethical topics. This means they have a strong understanding of right and wrong, and they are confident to express their views.
• Pupils have a very strong community spirit.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and feel well supported by leaders with regards to their workload and wellbeing.
• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 

Roz Robinson, head teacher at Firside Junior School, said: “I am delighted that Ofsted has recognised our efforts to maintain a Good standard across our school. It is clear our children enjoy coming to school and thrive demonstrating our DREAM values of determination, resilience, enthusiasm, ambition and motivation.

“We have high expectations of all our pupils and the learning we provide, and whilst we are pleased inspectors have recognised the high standard of writing in English, we acknowledge that we need to ensure the same standards are applied across all subjects.

“I would like to say a special thank you to all our staff, children and families who work incredibly hard to make sure we have a school community we can be proud of.”      

Daniel Thrower, CEO of Wensum Trust which Firside Junior School is part of, said: “This Ofsted inspection reflects the hard work of all the staff and children at Firside Junior School. I am particularly delighted that the report highlighted how proud staff are to work in the school and feel well supported by the Trust and their leadership team. I would like to congratulate everyone involved.” 

You can read the full report below.