St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School

About St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School

St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School sits within Hampshire local authority, where it is one of 33 primary schools rated Outstanding by Ofsted out of 425 total same-type schools in the area. In the Basingstoke and Deane district, it ranks 23rd out of 40 primary schools on the KS2 reading, writing and maths expected standard metric, placing it in the bottom half of its immediate local peers. The top-performing schools in the same local authority include Preston Candover Church of England Primary School, Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary School, and St Faith's Church of England Primary School. The nearest Outstanding-rated school to St Mary's is Rucstall Primary School, located 2.5 kilometres away. This context gives a sense of the competitive landscape for families in the area, with a mix of strong Church of England and Catholic options nearby.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2021, St Mary's achieved Outstanding across all five graded categories: overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This represents an improvement from its previous Good rating in 2015. At Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 59% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, slightly below the Hampshire local authority average of 61%. However, the school's average scaled scores were solid: 106 in reading and 105 in maths, both above the national baseline of 100. A higher-than-average proportion of pupils reached the higher standard in reading (35%) and maths (22%), though the combined reading, writing and maths higher standard was 14%. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is not possible to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points.

The school operates from a site that includes a sports hall, playing fields, an ICT suite, a library, a sensory room, an outdoor playground and a chapel, reflecting its Church of England foundation. Sports on offer include tennis, athletics, swimming, cross country and netball, while clubs range from gardening and drama to choir and film club. St Mary's has dedicated SEND provision for moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 348 pupils against a capacity of 360, the school is close to full, and 8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, below the national average. This is a junior school for ages 7 to 11 with no nursery or sixth form, so it suits families looking for a focused upper-primary stage within a strong local Church of England community.

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