St Augustine's CofE School

About St Augustine's CofE School

St Augustine's CofE School in Calderdale presents a mixed picture when compared against the local authority average for primary schools. While the LA average for pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined sits at 59%, St Augustine's achieves just 26%. That is a significant gap of 33 percentage points, placing the school 70th out of 73 similar schools in Calderdale and in the bottom 50 nationally. However, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2025 awarded a Good rating across all areas, including behaviour, personal development and leadership. This represents a remarkable turnaround from its previous inspection in September 2021, when it was rated Inadequate overall. The improvement is striking, and suggests that while academic outcomes remain low, the school's leadership and culture have undergone a fundamental reset.

Looking more closely at the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the picture is uneven across subjects. In writing, 56% of pupils met the expected standard, which is closer to the LA average, but in reading only 36% did so, and in maths just 43%. The proportion reaching the higher standard is very low: 11% in reading, 4% in maths, and none at all in writing or the combined measure. Average scaled scores are 98 for reading and 97 for maths, both slightly below the national benchmark of 100. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is unclear how much value the school is adding relative to pupils' starting points. With 64.6% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a highly disadvantaged community, and these results should be read in that context. The school's small size — 158 pupils against a capacity of 186 — may also affect the statistical reliability of its results.

The school offers a range of facilities including an ICT suite, sports hall, gymnasium, chapel and outdoor playground, and runs clubs such as book club, chess and science club. Sports provision includes athletics, dance, swimming, rounders, cross country and cricket. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. Admission for the 2025/26 year was oversubscribed: 18 applications for 7 places, with all 7 first-preference applicants offered a place. The oversubscription ratio of 2.57 suggests strong local demand. This is a school that has clearly won back community confidence after its previous difficulties, and it may particularly suit families who value the Church of England character and the supportive, improving environment that Ofsted has now recognised.

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