St Philip's CofE Primary School

About St Philip's CofE Primary School

St Philip's CofE Primary School sits within the Bath and North East Somerset local authority, a competitive landscape for primary schools. Among the 63 state primary schools in the area, St Philip's ranks 30th, placing it in the bottom half of the local league table. The top-performing peers in the authority include Freshford Church School, St Julian's Church School, and Shoscombe Church School, all of which achieve higher ranking scores. The nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Widcombe CofE Junior School, located 2.7 kilometres away. St Philip's itself holds a Good rating from its most recent graded inspection in November 2024, a grade it has maintained since its previous inspection in 2011. The school is a Church of England primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11, with headteacher Joanne Coppens at the helm. It is nearly at full capacity with 277 pupils against a capacity of 280, and 15.2 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 61 per cent of pupils at St Philip's met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. This is just one percentage point below the local authority average of 62 per cent, meaning the school is broadly in line with its peers. Looking at individual subjects, 80 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in both reading and writing, and 83 per cent did so in maths. At the higher standard, 22 per cent achieved the higher benchmark across all three subjects, with reading leading at 49 per cent, followed by maths at 37 per cent and writing at 29 per cent. Average scaled scores were 108 in reading and 106 in maths. Nationally, the school ranks 7,420th out of 13,686 primaries, placing it in the 54th percentile. In the South West region, it ranks 704th out of 1,469 schools. The school does not have a sixth form, and there is no nursery provision on site.

Parent feedback is overwhelmingly positive, with 98 per cent of respondents saying they would recommend the school. In the Parent View survey covering September 2024 to September 2025, all 41 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy and feels safe, with 78 per cent strongly agreeing on safety. Behaviour is also well regarded, with 98 per cent agreeing pupils are well behaved. The school offers a broad range of facilities including a sports hall, music rooms, art studios, a forest school, an ICT suite, a chapel, and playing fields. Sports on offer include tennis, football, netball, cricket, athletics and cross country, while clubs include book club, science club, choir, drama and film club. The school supports pupils with a range of special educational needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, visual impairment and physical disability. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed, with 75 applications for 38 places and 34 first-preference offers made. This is a school that suits families looking for a well-regarded Church of England primary with strong pastoral care and a good range of enrichment activities.

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