Ashford CofE Primary School

About Ashford CofE Primary School

Ashford CofE Primary School is a mixed, Church of England state primary in Spelthorne, Surrey, currently educating 394 pupils against a capacity of 420. That leaves a small handful of spare places, but the school is clearly in demand: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 128 applications for just 49 places, an oversubscription ratio of 2.61. Only 35 of those applicants listed it as their first preference, and all 35 received offers. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals sits at 17.5%, which is above the national primary average of around 23% but worth noting in the context of a relatively affluent Surrey borough. The school’s religious character as Church of England may appeal to some families, though the data doesn’t specify any faith-based admissions criteria. Headteacher Lesley Bailey leads a school that has clearly recovered its footing since a previous Ofsted inspection.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in September 2023, Ashford CofE was rated Good overall, with Good across all five key areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This is a clear improvement from its previous inspection in 2019, when it was rated Requires Improvement. On academic outcomes, the school’s Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 show 57% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That is below the Surrey local authority average of 66%. The school’s average scaled scores were 104 in maths and 103 in reading, both a touch above the national benchmark of 100. However, only 8% of pupils achieved the higher standard in all three subjects, and the school ranks 17th out of 19 primary schools in Spelthorne on this combined measure, placing it in the bottom half nationally.

The school offers a decent range of facilities, including a sensory room, ICT suite, library, music rooms, sports hall, outdoor playground, forest school and a chapel. Sports provision covers rounders, football, dance, gymnastics and cricket, while clubs include drama, art, eco, coding, choir and chess. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists support for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. The nearest outstanding-rated primary is St Michael Catholic Primary School & Nursery, just 0.7 km away, which may be a consideration for some. Ashford CofE suits families who value a Church of England setting, want a school that has improved its Ofsted rating, and are comfortable with academic results that sit below the local average.

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