St Nicholas Church of England Primary, Hurst

About St Nicholas Church of England Primary, Hurst

St Nicholas Church of England Primary, Hurst, was rated Good overall by Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection in October 2023, a rating it has held across both its recorded inspections. The inspection report singled out personal development as Outstanding, the only category to reach that top tier, while quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, leadership and management, and early years provision were all judged Good. On the key academic metric for primary schools, 76% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure sits comfortably above the Wokingham local authority average of 70% and places the school 11th out of 34 primary schools in the borough, putting it in the top third locally. Nationally, it ranks in the top 18% of all primary schools on this measure, a solid performance for a small village school.

Digging into the individual subject scores, the school’s strongest showing was in maths, where 90% of pupils reached the expected standard and the average scaled score was 108, above the national benchmark of 100. Reading and writing both saw 86% of pupils hit the expected mark, with average reading scores at 107. Where the school really stands out is at the higher standard: a third of pupils achieved higher scores in both maths and reading, though the combined higher standard across all three subjects dropped to 14%, reflecting a tougher hurdle in writing. The school has no Progress 8 data available, so it is not possible to measure how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points, but the raw attainment figures are consistently above local norms. The previous Ofsted inspection in 2012 also rated the school Good overall, so there is a pattern of steady, if not flashy, performance over more than a decade.

With just 139 pupils on roll and a capacity of 140, St Nicholas is a genuinely small, close-knit primary. It is heavily oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake there were 75 applications for 20 places, a ratio of nearly 4 to 1, and only 19 of the 24 first-preference families secured a spot. The school serves a Church of England community in Hurst, Wokingham, and its facilities include playing fields, a gymnasium, music rooms and a chapel. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. Clubs range from film and drama to gardening and eco club, while sports include cross country, netball and football. This is a school that suits families who value strong academic foundations within a small, faith-based setting, but given the oversubscription, getting a place is far from guaranteed.

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