Clipston Endowed Voluntary Controlled Primary School

About Clipston Endowed Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Clipston Endowed Voluntary Controlled Primary School is a small Church of England primary in West Northamptonshire, currently home to 95 pupils against a capacity of 105. That leaves a little breathing room, but the school is clearly in demand: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 25 applications for just 15 places, with 14 of those going to first-preference families. The oversubscription ratio of 1.67 tells you this is a school local families are keen to get into. The pupil body is notably less disadvantaged than the national picture — just 6.3% of children qualify for free school meals, compared with a typical primary average of around 23% nationally. That low FSM figure, combined with the school’s rural village setting, suggests a fairly homogenous intake. The headteacher, David Rosevear, leads a mixed-gender school for ages 4 to 11, and the most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022 judged it to remain Good, a rating it has held consistently across its last two inspections.

Academically, Clipston performs around the middle of the pack for West Northamptonshire. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 56% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — below the local authority average of 63%. The school ranks 96th out of 134 primaries in the LA, placing it in the bottom half. Digging into the individual subjects, reading is the strongest area: 78% of pupils met the expected standard and 39% reached the higher standard, with an average score of 108. Maths is weaker, with 67% at expected and an average score of 104, while writing sits at 72% expected. Only 6% of pupils hit the higher standard across all three subjects. Progress scores are not available, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds, but the raw attainment figures suggest a solid if not outstanding performance, particularly in reading.

The school offers a decent range of facilities for its size, including a sports hall, music rooms, art studios, a forest school area, a sensory room and a chapel. Sports provision covers football, cricket, gymnastics, athletics, dance and cross country, and there are clubs for choir, gardening, film and book club. For SEND, the school lists support for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health — though the parent view data shows no responses to the SEND support question, so it’s hard to gauge satisfaction in that area. The Parent View survey, based on 11 responses, shows 82% of parents would recommend the school, but there are notable splits: 18% strongly disagreed that the school makes them aware of what their child will learn, and 18% also strongly disagreed that concerns are dealt with properly. This is a small, oversubscribed village primary with a strong reading focus and a Good rating — best suited to families who value a close-knit, Church of England setting and are comfortable with its middling academic ranking.

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