Inspections

2025-2026

We welcomed an Ofsted Progress Monitoring Inspection on Wednesday 25th February 2026. This is part of the normal process following our July 2025 inspection and the outcome "requires improvement". 

We are delighted to announce the "school now meets all of the independent school standards that were checked during this inspection."

The full report from this PMI is below. 

Highlights include: 

"Since the last standard inspection, the proprietor and leaders have made a concerted and successful effort to restore the necessary rigor to how they check all aspects of the school’s work." 

"Leaders have put in effective systems and processes to ensure accurate and detailed reporting to the proprietor body on how well pupils are learning and how well the curriculum is being taught."

"Leaders have brought the ability to quickly identify gaps in pupils’ grasp of reading and writing to the fore. Through an effective suite of assessments, they now have a clear understanding of how well pupils are reading, able to form letters accurately and spell and punctuate correctly. Leaders have provided effective guidance to staff on how to use this information."

"Staff use these checks well to inform their teaching or to set appropriately targeted interventions. This has been effective, for example, in helping pupils fill gaps in phonics and in improving reading fluency. Staff adapt learning to meet pupils’ needs, for example, in the use of resources in literacy lessons or how staff are deployed."

2024-2025

Waldorf Cambridge's previous inspections can be found on the Ofsted website here - https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/27/131937 

Please note the school changed name from Cambridge Steiner School to Waldorf Cambridge in December 2024 to align with the rebranding of Waldorf UK and European naming of Steiner Waldorf schools. 

Inspection - July 2025 highlights: 

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The school’s curriculum is thoughtfully planned. In some subjects, it builds knowledge over time and helps pupils make links in their learning. In particular areas, staff have secure subject expertise. They model processes clearly and give helpful feedback. Pupils receive suitable time to practise, refine and improve. It shows, for example, in pupils’ expressive music-making and detailed scientific diagrams. By the end of key stage 4, pupils complete qualifications that enable them to progress to further education, employment or training. The school continues to explore appropriate qualification routes to support pupils’ next steps and build on their learning."

"The early years provision is a clear strength. It provides a warm, purposeful environment for children to learn in. Calm routines and rich experiences nurture children’s confidence and independence. Activities like apple harvesting and storytelling inspire curiosity and creativity. Skilled staff model language and movement with care, building strong foundations for future learning. The school is working to strengthen how this is sustained, so that children’s strong start carries through as they move into their next stage of education."

"Pupils enjoy a wide range of experiences that help them grow as individuals. Lessons about health, relationships and life skills build pupils’ confidence from a young age. Careers education is well considered, with visitors such as electricians, journalists and Paralympians inspiring pupils to aim high. Outdoor learning, festivals and drama build pupils’ resilience, creativity and self-belief."

"The school fosters a caring, respectful culture. Staff feel valued, supported and confident to seek guidance. Leaders promote openness, enabling honest conversations and a shared commitment to improvement. Staff feel trusted and able to manage their workload. Many parents and carers speak positively about the school’s genuine care, including thoughtful touches like personalised birthday verses in annual reports. These celebrate each child’s uniqueness alongside clear updates on progress."

"The proprietor understands their statutory duties. Monitoring of statutory requirements, such as safer recruitment and health and safety, is thorough and ensures compliance."

"The arrangements for safeguarding are effective."

Inspection - July 2025 areas for improvement: 

• 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.

See our action plan below, updated September 2025 for how we are working to improve the above points. 

If you have any questions about our Ofsted report, inspection or action plan, please contact teachingandlearning@waldorfcambridge.uk