St James Church of England Primary School, Hanney

About St James Church of England Primary School, Hanney

St James Church of England Primary School, Hanney, is a popular choice among local families, with 23 first-preference applications for 24 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, making it officially oversubscribed. The school received a total of 51 applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.13, meaning more than two families applied for every available spot. This level of demand suggests a strong local reputation, though the school does not publish a parent-view recommendation percentage in its data. The school is a state-funded, mixed primary for children aged 2 to 11, with a Church of England character, and is led by headteacher Lucy Ottaway. It currently has 215 pupils on roll, slightly above its official capacity of 210, and 21.8 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is a useful indicator of the school's inclusive intake.

Academically, St James holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across its most recent inspections, including an ungraded visit in February 2024 that confirmed the school remains Good. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 41 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is below the Oxfordshire local authority average of 61 per cent. Individual subject results show 59 per cent reached the expected standard in reading, 62 per cent in writing, and 48 per cent in maths. The proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard was low: 10 per cent in reading, 3 per cent in writing, and 10 per cent in maths. The school's average scaled scores were 102 for reading and 100 for maths. Nationally, St James ranks in the bottom 50 per cent of primary schools for its combined expected standard score, sitting at the 90th percentile in the South East region.

The school offers a range of facilities including a library, music rooms, art studios, a sensory room, a gymnasium, an outdoor playground, a forest school area, a dining hall, and a chapel. Sports provision includes rounders, tennis, athletics, and swimming, while clubs cover science, choir, art, eco, and coding. For children with additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. The nearest outstanding-rated primary school is Wantage Primary Academy, 4.1 kilometres away. St James is best suited to families who value a Church of England setting with a strong sense of community, who are comfortable with academic results that sit below the local average, and who appreciate the school's inclusive SEND support and broad enrichment offer.

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