Shaftesbury Primary School

About Shaftesbury Primary School

Shaftesbury Primary School has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted, a significant leap from its Requires Improvement rating in 2013. The school’s most recent graded inspection in 2016 awarded top marks across the board, and a subsequent ungraded visit in 2021 confirmed it remains Outstanding. For a school that was struggling a decade ago, this turnaround is striking. The most telling exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined: 85 per cent. That is well above the Newham local authority average of 74 per cent, placing Shaftesbury 15th out of 61 primary schools in the borough and in the top 10 per cent nationally. The school also excels at the higher standard, with 20 per cent of pupils hitting that benchmark.

Digging into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, Shaftesbury’s strengths are consistent across the three core subjects. In maths, 90 per cent of pupils met the expected standard and 52 per cent reached the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 110. Reading was similarly strong: 88 per cent at expected and 47 per cent at higher, with an average score of 109. Writing saw 85 per cent at expected and 25 per cent at higher. The school does not publish progress scores, so it is hard to say how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points, but the raw attainment figures are impressive. For context, the school serves a diverse community where 27.6 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, above the national average, making these results all the more notable.

Shaftesbury is a three-form entry primary with a nursery, and it is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26, there were 253 applications for 75 places, a ratio of 3.37 to one, with 48 first-preference offers made. The school sits in Newham, London, and the nearest other Outstanding-rated primary is St Stephen’s, just 0.3 km away. Facilities include a sports hall, ICT suite, sensory room, forest school and even a chapel. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties, speech and language needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. Clubs range from choir and drama to coding and film club, while sports include cricket, tennis, gymnastics and athletics. This is a school that suits families who want strong academic outcomes in a diverse, inner-London setting, but given the oversubscription, getting a place will require a high-preference application.

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