St John Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Danbury

About St John Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Danbury

St John Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Danbury holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across its two most recent inspections. In its 2023 ungraded inspection, the school was confirmed to have remained Good, with leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness all judged to be Good. The most telling academic metric comes from the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results: 66% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure sits above the local authority average of 62%, placing the school in the top half of primary schools in Chelmsford. While the school is not among the very highest performers in the area, its results are solidly above the typical Essex primary, and the proportion of pupils reaching the higher standard in reading (40%) and maths (37%) suggests a decent number of children are stretching beyond the baseline.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 SATs, the school’s average scores in reading (107) and maths (106) are both above the national benchmark of 100, which is a reassuring sign for parents concerned about core skills. In writing, 80% of pupils reached the expected standard, matching the reading figure, though only 17% achieved the higher standard — a lower rate than in maths or reading. The school’s Progress 8 data is not available, so it is hard to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points, but the raw outcomes are respectable. Nationally, St John ranks in the 43rd percentile for the combined expected standard metric, and within the East of England it sits in the 39th percentile. In the Chelmsford local authority, it ranks 20th out of 41 primary schools, placing it comfortably in the middle of the pack.

The school is a Church of England voluntary controlled primary for mixed pupils aged 4 to 11, with a capacity of 230 and currently 219 on roll. It is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 91 applications for 30 places, with 45 first-preference applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of just over 3 to 1. Facilities include a sports hall, gymnasium, playing fields, music rooms, art studios, an ICT suite, a sensory room and a chapel. The school offers swimming, cricket, football and gymnastics, plus clubs such as art, coding and chess. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a solid, well-regarded village primary that suits families who value a Church of England ethos, decent academic outcomes above the local average, and a broad range of facilities within a relatively small school community.

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