Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harlow

About Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harlow

Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School sits within the Essex local authority, a large county with 444 primary schools. In the most recent local rankings, it placed 341st among those schools, placing it firmly in the bottom half of the county’s primary provision. Within the immediate Harlow area, the school ranks 27th out of 28 primaries, a position that places it near the foot of the local table. For context, the top-performing peers in Essex include St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School in Colchester, Stambridge Primary School, and Great Totham Primary School, all of which achieved the maximum ranking score of 100. Churchgate’s ranking score of 40, based on the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, highlights a significant gap between this school and the county’s strongest performers. The school is a small, Church of England voluntary aided primary, with 194 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210, and is led by headteacher Chris Jarvis.

Academically, Churchgate’s most recent Key Stage 2 results, from the 2023/24 academic year, show that 40% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. This is well below the Essex local authority average of 62%. In reading, 73% of pupils reached the expected level, with 20% achieving a higher standard, while in writing the expected rate was 57% and the higher rate just 7%. Maths saw 53% of pupils at the expected level and 13% at the higher level. Average scaled scores were 103 in reading and 102 in maths. No pupil achieved the higher standard across all three subjects. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in May 2024, rated it Good overall, with Good across all categories including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This was a consistent improvement from its previous inspection in 2015, where early years provision was rated Requires Improvement.

The school offers a range of facilities including a sports hall, playing fields, a forest school, music rooms, art studios, a library, an ICT suite, and a chapel. Sports provision includes football, cricket, rounders, swimming and athletics, while clubs cover art, book club and drama. SEND support is available for pupils with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, visual impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed: 81 applications were received for 29 places, with 23 offers made to first-preference applicants out of 26 who listed it first. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 2.79 applicants per place. Churchgate is a good fit for families who value a small, church-affiliated primary with a strong forest school programme and a broad range of facilities, but who are realistic about academic outcomes that sit below the local average.

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