St Francis Church of England Primary School

About St Francis Church of England Primary School

St Francis Church of England Primary School in Test Valley was rated Good overall in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024, a step down from the Outstanding grade it held previously. However, the detail tells a more nuanced story. While the quality of education and leadership and management were judged Good, inspectors rated behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision all as Outstanding. On the key academic measure for primary schools, 66% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined in the 2023/24 KS2 assessments. That is above the Hampshire local authority average of 61% and places the school 12th out of 40 primary schools in Test Valley, putting it in the top 30% of its immediate area. Nationally, it sits in the top 43% of all primary schools on this metric.

Digging into the individual subject scores, the school’s strongest performance was in reading, where 88% of pupils reached the expected standard and 42% achieved a higher standard, with an average scaled score of 108. In maths, 80% hit the expected level and 33% reached the higher standard, with an average score of 105. Writing was the weakest area: 73% met the expected standard and just 16% achieved the higher mark. The school’s overall ranking score of 66 is based on the combined expected standard measure, and while it is not among the very top performers in Hampshire — where 33 schools in the local authority are rated Outstanding — it is a solidly above-average option. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Hiltingworth Infant School, 2.4 km away, which may be relevant for families comparing options.

With 379 pupils against a capacity of 400, the school is nearly full and was oversubscribed for 2025/26 admissions, receiving 94 applications for 45 places and 48 first-preference applications for those 45 spots. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 2.09, so applying early is wise. Facilities include a forest school, chapel, music rooms, ICT suite and outdoor playground, with clubs ranging from coding and science to eco club and gardening. Sports on offer include tennis, athletics, dance, cross country and netball. The school has identified SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. With a very low 4% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the intake is relatively affluent. This is a church school that suits families who value strong behaviour, personal development and a broad extracurricular offer alongside solid but not exceptional academic results.

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