High Ash Church of England Primary School

About High Ash Church of England Primary School

High Ash Church of England Primary School is a popular choice among local families, with 26 first-preference applications for its 29 places in the 2025/26 admissions round. The school was oversubscribed overall, receiving 55 applications for those places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.9. That said, it's worth noting that all first-preference applicants were offered a place, so it's not the most competitive school in Buckinghamshire. ParentView data isn't available for this school, so we can't report on the percentage of parents who would recommend it, but the healthy number of first-preference applications suggests it holds a solid reputation locally. The school is a Church of England primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11, with a capacity of 315 and a current roll of 260, meaning there is some spare capacity. Around 21% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average.

Academically, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2023 rated its overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement, a significant drop from its previous Outstanding rating in 2011. The quality of education and leadership and management were both judged to require improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision were all rated Good. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 59% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is below the Buckinghamshire local authority average of 64%. The school ranks 93rd out of 137 primary schools in the county on this measure. Looking at individual subjects, average scores were 106 in reading and 104 in maths, with 44% of pupils achieving a higher standard in reading and 31% in maths. Progress scores are not available, so it's unclear how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points.

The school offers a range of facilities including a sports hall, ICT suite, dining hall, chapel, and a Forest School area, which supports outdoor learning. Sports provision includes netball, tennis, athletics, cross country, dance and swimming, while clubs cover coding, chess, gardening and eco club. For pupils with additional needs, the school has identified provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. There is no nursery or sixth form. Given the Requires Improvement rating, this school may suit families who value its Church of England character, Forest School, and strong behaviour and personal development ratings, and who are comfortable with a school that is actively working on improvements in leadership and academic outcomes.

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