Irchester Community Primary School

About Irchester Community Primary School

Irchester Community Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained since its most recent graded inspection in 2014 and confirmed as still accurate in an ungraded visit in 2023. The school’s most telling academic metric is its Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard score: 58% of pupils reached that benchmark in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure sits just below the North Northamptonshire local authority average of 61%, placing Irchester 57th out of 111 primary schools in the area. The school’s national ranking for this metric is in the 61st percentile, meaning it performs better than roughly six in ten schools across England. While the school does not have progress scores available for reading, writing or maths, its average scaled scores are solid: 103 in reading and 102 in maths, both above the national baseline of 100.

Drilling into the individual subject results, 70% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, 67% in reading and 68% in maths. The proportion reaching the higher standard is notably lower: 12% in maths, 11% in reading and just 2% in writing. This suggests the school is effective at moving most children to the expected level but less so at stretching the highest achievers. Compared with its previous Ofsted inspection in 2012, when the school was rated Requires Improvement overall, the trajectory has been clearly upward. Leadership and management, which was graded Good in 2014, remains Good. The school has 351 pupils on roll against a capacity of 420, and 19.4% qualify for free school meals, slightly above the national average, indicating a broadly typical intake for a state primary in the East Midlands.

The school offers a strong set of facilities for a primary of its size, including a forest school, sensory room, gymnasium, library and music rooms. Its SEND provision is comprehensive, covering autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, visual impairment, physical disability and social and emotional mental health support. Admissions data for 2025/26 shows the school is oversubscribed: 55 applications for 38 places, with 36 first-preference offers made. That oversubscription ratio of 1.45 suggests healthy local demand. Families who value outdoor learning and creative enrichment will find a good fit here, with clubs ranging from coding and chess to gardening and eco club, plus sports including cross country, netball and swimming. It is not a faith school, has no nursery or sixth form, and is a day-only state primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11.

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