St Matthew's Bloxam CofE Primary School

About St Matthew's Bloxam CofE Primary School

St Matthew's Bloxam CofE Primary School is a Church of England primary in Rugby that runs very close to capacity, with 206 pupils on roll against a published capacity of 210. That near-full roll is no surprise given the demand: for the 2025/26 intake, the school received 55 applications for just 16 places, an oversubscription ratio of 3.44 to one. Of those 55 applicants, only 14 were offered a place as a first preference, which suggests that while the school is popular, many families who put it first were still unsuccessful. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals sits at 25.2%, which is notably higher than the national primary average of around 23% and suggests the school serves a relatively disadvantaged catchment. This is a mixed, state-funded primary for children aged 4 to 11, and it also offers nursery provision, so families with younger siblings may find continuity appealing.

Academically, the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in January 2023 rated it Good across every category — overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision all scored a 2. That marks a clear improvement from its previous graded inspection in March 2019, when it was rated Requires Improvement overall. At Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 41% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is well below the Warwickshire local authority average of 62%. Reading and maths average scores were 103 and 101 respectively, and while 72% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, only 3% reached the higher standard in that subject. Nationally, the school ranks in the bottom 10% of primaries on the combined expected standard metric, and 25th out of 28 schools in the Rugby local area.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a gymnasium, sensory room, library, playing fields, forest school, sports hall, ICT suite and a chapel. Sports on offer include football, rounders, cross country, dance and gymnastics, while clubs range from film club and coding to gardening, drama, science club and choir. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions for moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. Given the high oversubscription, families living within the school’s catchment area or with a strong church connection are likely to have the best chance of securing a place. This is a school that has improved its Ofsted rating significantly and now serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage, but it remains one of the lower-performing primaries in Warwickshire on academic outcomes.

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