St Barnabas' CofE Primary School

About St Barnabas' CofE Primary School

St Barnabas' CofE Primary School sits in a tricky spot within Westminster's primary landscape. Its headline metric — the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — stands at 60%, which is 14 percentage points below the local authority average of 74%. That places the school 25th out of 31 primaries in the borough, putting it in the bottom half of Westminster schools. Nationally, it ranks in the 55th percentile, so it's broadly middle-of-the-pack across England. The school is heavily oversubscribed — 40 applications for 23 places in the 2025/26 intake — but only 12 of those were first-preference offers, suggesting families are applying but often not getting their top choice. With 38.2% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the intake is significantly more disadvantaged than many nearby schools, which may partly explain the gap against the LA average.

Digging into the KS2 results for 2023/24, the picture is mixed. In reading, 75% of pupils met the expected standard and 25% reached the higher standard, with an average score of 105. Maths was similar: 75% at expected and 15% at higher, with an average score of 103. Writing saw 70% at expected and 30% at the higher mark. The real challenge is the combined measure — only 60% hit the expected standard across all three subjects, and just 10% reached the higher standard in all three. That's a steep drop from the individual subject figures, suggesting pupils who struggle in one area are pulling down the overall picture. Ofsted rated the school Good across the board in its February 2023 inspection, with all five categories — quality of education, behaviour, personal development, leadership and early years — scoring 2 (Good). The previous inspection in 2013 also rated the school Good, so it has maintained that standard over a decade.

The school is a Church of England primary with a nursery provision for children from age three, and it feels like a small, close-knit community with just 118 pupils against a capacity of 161. Facilities are surprisingly strong for a school of this size: there's a forest school, sensory room, chapel, music rooms, ICT suite and playing fields. Sports include netball, football, cross country and rounders, and clubs range from gardening and choir to film club and eco club. SEND provision covers speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties or disabilities. This is a school that suits families who value a faith-based, inclusive environment and are comfortable with results that sit below the LA average — the oversubscription figures suggest local parents do want places, but the first-preference data indicates it's not the first choice for most. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Pimlico Primary, about a kilometre away, for those prioritising top Ofsted grades.

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