Seven Sutton borough schools now have new-style Ofsted report cards. Nonsuch, Glenthorne and Cheam Common Infants' each took an Exceptional; one school has two areas needing attention. Every grade, school by school.

Three Sutton borough schools have been graded Exceptional, Ofsted’s top mark, in at least one area under the inspectorate’s new report cards: Nonsuch High School for Girls for attendance and behaviour, Glenthorne High School for inclusion and for personal development and wellbeing, and Cheam Common Infants’ Academy for personal development and wellbeing. They are among seven state schools in the borough whose new-style reports had been published by 17 August 2026, according to Ofsted’s report finder. At the other end, Wallington Primary Academy on the Roundshaw estate was told that achievement and attendance both need attention.

Safeguarding was judged to be met at all seven.

The change matters for anyone choosing a school this year, because the single word at the top of the old report has gone. There is no “Outstanding” or “Good” any more. Each school is graded separately on six core areas, plus early years for primaries and post-16 provision for schools with a sixth form, and safeguarding is reported on its own as met or not met.

What the five grades mean

Ofsted prints the scale in every report. In its own words:

  • Exceptional: “Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.”
  • Strong standard: “The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.”
  • Expected standard: “The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care”, following the statutory and non-statutory requirements and the professional standards expected of them.
  • Needs attention: “The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.”
  • Urgent improvement: “The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.”

The one to hold on to is the middle grade. Expected standard is the benchmark a school is supposed to meet, not a near miss; a card full of it describes a school doing what it is required to do (Understanding Ofsted report cards and grades).

Grid of Ofsted grades for seven Sutton borough schools across up to eight areas: Nonsuch High School for Girls, Glenthorne High School, Cheam Common Infants' Academy, High View Primary, Muschamp Primary, Robin Hood Infants' and Wallington Primary Academy
Every graded area in the seven Sutton borough report cards published in 2026. Sources: Ofsted inspection reports, URNs 136795, 136914, 145481, 102971, 130934, 102981 and 145742. Graphic by Sutton Online.

Nonsuch High School for Girls, Cheam

Inspected 10 February 2026, report published 8 May 2026. 1,494 pupils, ages 11 to 18 (Ofsted, URN 136795).

Exceptional for attendance and behaviour; Strong standard for achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, personal development and wellbeing, and post-16 provision.

Inspectors wrote that attendance rates “are among the best nationally, with remarkably low levels of persistent absence”, and that behaviour “in classrooms and around the school is exemplary”. On results: “Pupils achieve highly in national examinations at the end of key stage 4. These results are well above national averages”, and disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and progress over the last three years “have been above those of non-disadvantaged pupils nationally”.

Glenthorne High School, Sutton Common Road

Inspected 6 January 2026, published 24 March 2026. 1,754 pupils, ages 11 to 18 (Ofsted, URN 136914).

Exceptional for inclusion and for personal development and wellbeing; Strong standard for achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, leadership and governance, and post-16 provision.

The report says leaders “have created a highly inclusive culture”, that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and disadvantaged pupils “are expertly supported to make excellent progress”, and that at GCSE “pupils across all groups, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve significantly above national averages”. The personal development programme is described as “first class”.

Cheam Common Infants’ Academy, Worcester Park

Inspected 12 May 2026, published 22 June 2026. 410 pupils, ages 3 to 7 (Ofsted, URN 145481).

Exceptional for personal development and wellbeing; Strong standard for achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, and leadership and governance.

Inspectors found that “pupils’ personal development is central to all that the school does”: children in Nursery and Reception “are taught a wide range of precise language to explain their wants, needs and emotions”, and pupils “know in detail about how to stay safe online, such as how a person online may impersonate a friend, and how artificially generated images may be used to convince them of something that is not real”.

High View Primary School, Wallington

Inspected 10 February 2026, published 18 May 2026. 438 pupils, ages 3 to 11 (Ofsted, URN 102971).

Strong standard for early years, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing; Expected standard for achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance.

The early years work “begins very positively in the Nursery”, inspectors wrote, with a curriculum “well planned, carefully sequenced and tailored to meet children’s needs”.

Muschamp Primary School and Language Opportunity Base, Carshalton

Inspected 3 February 2026, published 24 March 2026. 574 pupils, ages 3 to 11 (Ofsted, URN 130934).

Expected standard in every graded area: achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing.

That is not a thin card. The report records that attainment in reading, writing and mathematics “has been consistently above national averages for the past 3 years at the end of Year 6”, with disadvantaged pupils achieving close to national averages and the gap “narrowing over time”.

Robin Hood Infants’ School, Sutton

Inspected 12 May 2026, published 13 July 2026. 239 pupils, ages 5 to 7 (Ofsted, URN 102981).

Expected standard in every graded area. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check “is above the national average, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities”, and “bullying is rare”. Inspectors noted that leaders’ analysis of attendance “is not as precise as it could be”, and that some staff do not always apply the behaviour expectations “with sufficient confidence”.

Wallington Primary Academy, Roundshaw

Inspected 21 April 2026, published 10 June 2026. 155 pupils, ages 3 to 11 (Ofsted, URN 145742).

Needs attention for achievement and for attendance and behaviour; Expected standard for curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing.

The report is direct about why. Outcomes in national tests at the end of key stage 2 “have been below national averages for the last 3 years, including for disadvantaged pupils”, and “while cohort variation and low pupil stability play a part, this does not fully account for the extent of pupils’ underachievement”. On attendance: “there are early signs of improvement”, but “attendance remains low, and persistent absence for some groups is still high”. Inspectors also recorded what is going right: pupils “arrive in school happy and ready to learn”, phonics outcomes “are closer to national expectations”, leaders “have identified appropriate priorities and are taking action to address these swiftly and with rigour”, and behaviour in lessons “is increasingly calm and purposeful”. Ofsted says it carries out monitoring inspections of schools with any area graded needs attention.

What it means for you

If you are choosing a primary or secondary school for September 2027, the report cards are now the document to read, and they are longer and more specific than the old reports. Read the area that matters most to your child rather than counting the colours: a school graded Expected everywhere but with results above national averages, as at Muschamp, is a different proposition from the phrase “expected standard” suggests. Sutton’s secondary application deadline is 31 October each year and primary applications close on 15 January; both are made through the council (Sutton Council: school admissions).

If your child is at one of the seven, the report tells you what inspectors want to see next. Robin Hood Infants’ and Wallington Primary Academy were both asked to sharpen attendance analysis and follow-up; parents can expect the schools to be pressing harder on absence this year.

If your school is not listed, it has simply not been inspected under the new framework yet. Ofsted normally inspects schools every four years, and the report-card framework only began in the 2025-26 school year, so most of the borough’s schools still carry the older-style report with the four sub-judgements and no overall grade. We will add schools to this picture as their cards are published.

Sources