Long Crendon School

About Long Crendon School

Long Crendon School is a state primary for mixed pupils aged 4 to 11 in Buckinghamshire, and it is noticeably popular with local families. The school has capacity for 240 children but currently enrols 225, meaning it is not quite full, yet demand for places is high. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 89 applications for just 30 places, with 33 of those applications coming from first-preference families. Only 29 first-preference offers were made, giving an oversubscription ratio of nearly three applicants per place. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals sits at just 4%, which is low compared with the national average and suggests a relatively affluent catchment. The school is led by headteacher Gareth Owens and has no religious character. It does not offer nursery provision or a sixth form, and it is not a boarding school.

Academically, Long Crendon performs well above the local authority average. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 81% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a Buckinghamshire average of 64%. The school ranks 13th out of 137 primary schools in the county, placing it in the top 10% locally, and 1278th nationally out of 13686 schools. Pupils achieved strong average scores of 111 in reading and 109 in maths. At the higher standard, 61% of children scored highly in both reading and maths, though the proportion reaching the higher standard in writing was lower at 10%. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2024 was a mixed picture: the overall effectiveness was not judged, but leadership and management, early years provision, and personal development were all rated outstanding, while quality of education and behaviour and attitudes were rated good. This marks a significant improvement from the previous inspection in June 2022, when the school was rated requires improvement.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a library, forest school, playing fields, art studios, a gymnasium, sports hall, ICT suite, and an outdoor playground. Sports provision covers rounders, athletics, cross country, swimming, gymnastics, netball, and cricket, while clubs include choir, art club, and eco club. For children with additional needs, the school lists support for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses from 111 respondents between September 2024 and September 2025 show strong satisfaction: 90% of parents would recommend the school, and 86% said their child is happy there, with 73% strongly agreeing that their child feels safe. The school is best suited to families in the Buckinghamshire area who value strong academic outcomes and a broad range of activities, and who are comfortable with a school that has recently turned around its performance.

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