Ashwicken Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

About Ashwicken Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Ashwicken Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School sits within the Norfolk local authority, a small village primary with 103 pupils on roll. In the most recent local rankings for King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, it placed 38th out of 58 primary schools, placing it in the bottom half of its immediate borough. Across Norfolk as a whole, the school ranks 176th among 344 same-type schools, and its top-performing local peers include Ditchingham Church of England Primary Academy, Surlingham Primary School, and Stalham Academy, all of which achieved higher ranking scores. The school is led by headteacher Sophie Dickson and has a Church of England religious character, with a chapel on site. It is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, receiving 31 total applications for 15 places, with all 15 first-preference applicants offered a spot, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.07.

Academically, Ashwicken’s Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 year show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined was 47%, below the Norfolk local authority average of 52%. In individual subjects, 68% met the expected standard in reading, 63% in writing, and 74% in maths. Higher-attaining pupils were few: 11% achieved the higher standard in reading and the same in maths, while no pupils reached the higher standard in writing. Average scaled scores were 103 in both reading and maths. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in January 2022, confirmed it remains Good, a rating it has held since its previous graded inspection in 2012, when leadership and management and overall effectiveness were both judged Good.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including playing fields, a sports hall, art and music rooms, an ICT suite, a forest school area, and a dining hall. Sports provision covers cross country, football, swimming, gymnastics, netball, and dance, while extracurricular clubs include chess, choir, science club, coding, film club, and gardening. SEND support is available for pupils with moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. With a below-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 10.7%, and a capacity of 105, the school is nearly full. This is a small, faith-based village primary that suits families seeking a close-knit environment within commuting distance of King’s Lynn, though its academic outcomes are below the local average and it is oversubscribed.

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