St Clement's and St John's Church of England Infant School

About St Clement's and St John's Church of England Infant School

St Clement's and St John's Church of England Infant School was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, a grade it has held consistently since at least 2010. The inspection report noted that the school remains Good, with the early years provision, leadership and management, and overall effectiveness all judged to be Good. This is a solid foundation for a school that only takes children from age five to seven, meaning it focuses entirely on the early primary years. The most telling academic metric for an infant school is not a Progress 8 or KS2 score — those come later — but rather the school's capacity to prepare children for the next stage. With 189 pupils on roll against a capacity of 270, the school is not full, but it is heavily oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 115 applications for just 57 places, and only 49 first-preference offers were made. That oversubscription ratio of 2.02 suggests strong local demand, even though the school does not publish formal academic outcomes for this age group.

Because St Clement's and St John's is an infant school, it does not participate in Key Stage 2 SATs, so there are no published attainment scores to compare against the local authority average of 63 per cent. Instead, the school's effectiveness is best judged by its Ofsted record and its ability to meet the needs of its pupils. The school serves a relatively disadvantaged catchment: 40.2 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. Despite this, the school has maintained a Good rating across inspections, and the most recent ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed it continues to meet that standard. The school's leadership and management were also rated Good, which suggests stable governance and teaching quality. For parents looking at infant-phase outcomes, the key question is whether children leave ready for junior school, and the oversubscription figures indicate that local families have confidence in the school's ability to deliver that.

The school offers a range of facilities including a gymnasium, art studios, music rooms, a sports hall, and a chapel, reflecting its Church of England foundation. Sports include cricket, netball, football, and athletics, while clubs cover chess, choir, and art. SEND provisions are notably broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, visual impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes the school a strong option for families whose children need additional support in the early years. The school is oversubscribed, so parents should be prepared to apply early and list it as a first preference. For families who prioritise a Good-rated, Church of England infant school with strong SEND support and a wide range of facilities, St Clement's and St John's is a credible choice within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

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