Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School

About Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School

Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School in Somerset received a Requires Improvement rating from Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection in January 2024, a drop from the Good rating it had held since its previous inspection in 2013. The school was judged to require improvement across all five categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. On the most informative exam metric available, Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show that 50% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. This is notably below the Somerset local authority average of 59% for the same measure. The school's ranking within the county places it at 96th out of 134 primary schools, putting it in the bottom half of schools in Somerset.

Looking more closely at the individual subject results, 68% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, 57% in maths, and 75% in writing. The average scaled scores were 103 for reading and 102 for maths, both just above the national benchmark of 100. However, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard across all three subjects was just 4%, with 18% reaching higher in reading, 14% in maths, and 7% in writing. These figures suggest that while the school is helping a majority of children meet basic expectations, particularly in writing, it is struggling to stretch its most able pupils. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is difficult to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. Nationally, the school ranks in the bottom quarter, at 10,722 out of 13,686 primary schools.

Bishop Henderson is a small Church of England primary school with 131 pupils against a capacity of 164, and it offers nursery provision for children from age two. The school was oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, receiving 17 applications for 13 places, with all 13 first-preference applicants offered a place. Facilities include playing fields, an outdoor playground, a sports hall, art studios, music rooms, an ICT suite, and a chapel. The school offers a range of sports including football, cricket, netball, tennis, cross country and athletics, plus clubs such as drama, chess, coding, science club and film club. SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. This school may suit families who value a small, church-affiliated setting with strong writing outcomes and a broad extracurricular offer, but who are comfortable with the recent Ofsted rating and below-average academic results compared with other Somerset primaries.

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