Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School

About Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School

Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School holds a Good rating from its most recent graded inspection in 2012, and an ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed it remains Good. The most telling academic metric is the Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard: just 40% of pupils reached it in the 2023/24 results. That is well below the Oxfordshire local authority average of 61% for primary schools. In the Vale of White Horse, the school ranks 41st out of 47 primary schools on this measure, placing it in the bottom half of the local league table. Nationally, it sits in the bottom 10% of all primary schools. The picture is mixed by subject: 80% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and the average reading score of 104 is solid, but only 53% did so in maths, and just 40% in writing. No pupils achieved the higher standard in writing or in the combined measure.

The school’s previous inspection, back in 2006, rated it Outstanding overall, with leadership and management also Outstanding. That earlier report gave early years provision a Satisfactory grade (a 2 on the old scale). The trajectory since then has been a step down to Good, and the current academic outcomes suggest there is work to do to bring results in line with the county average. The school is small, with 96 pupils on roll against a capacity of 105, and 8.3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The headteacher is Judith Terrell. The school’s ranking score of 40 on the KS2 expected standard metric places it 190th out of 242 primary schools in Oxfordshire, and it sits in the bottom 50 tier nationally.

For families considering Shellingford, the school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 50 applications for 13 places, with 10 first-preference offers made. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 3.85, so securing a place is competitive. The school offers a range of facilities including a library, sensory room, art studios, playing fields and a chapel. Sports include cricket, swimming, athletics and cross country, and clubs range from art and gardening to coding, science, choir and chess. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a Church of England primary with a strong village-school feel, but parents should weigh the academic results carefully against the local average before applying.

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