St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

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

St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School sits within the Essex local authority, in the Uttlesford borough, and is one of 34 primary schools ranked in the district. It places 14th among them, putting it in the top 25 per cent of schools locally. For context, the top-performing peers in the same area are Stambridge Primary School and St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School in Colchester, both of which achieved a perfect ranking score of 100, followed by Great Totham Primary School on 95. The school is a state-funded, mixed-gender primary for children aged 4 to 11, with a Church of England religious character. It is led by headteacher Chris Jarmain and currently has 222 pupils on roll, slightly above its official capacity of 210. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 17.6 per cent, which is a useful indicator of the school's intake.

Academically, St Mary's performs well against local benchmarks. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 73 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, comfortably above the Essex local authority average of 62 per cent. The school also achieved strong scores in individual subjects: 91 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, 85 per cent in maths, and 76 per cent in writing. At the higher standard, 12 per cent of pupils achieved the top marks across all three subjects. Average scaled scores were 108 in reading and 106 in maths. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, a graded visit in May 2023, confirmed it remains Good overall, with leadership and management also rated Good. This is a notable improvement from its previous inspection in 2009, when it was judged to require improvement.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a library, forest school, sports hall, ICT suite, music rooms, sensory room, art studios and a chapel. Sports provision covers cross country, rounders, gymnastics, netball, tennis, athletics and swimming, while clubs include book club, film club, science club, drama and eco club. For pupils with additional needs, the school supports a wide spectrum of conditions including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language difficulties, hearing impairment, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. Admissions for 2025/26 show the school is oversubscribed: 83 applications were received for 28 places, with 20 first-preference offers made. This suggests strong local demand, and families considering St Mary's should be aware of the competitive entry. It is a good fit for families who value a church school with solid academic outcomes and a wide range of enrichment activities.

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