St Stephens Church School

About St Stephens Church School

St Stephens Church School in Bath holds a Good rating from its most recent graded inspection in 2015, and an ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed the school remains Good. The most telling exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which sits at 77%. That is comfortably above the local authority average of 62% for primary schools in Bath and North East Somerset, placing the school 10th out of 52 primaries in the area and inside the top 25% nationally. The school also performs well on higher-level attainment, with 18% of pupils reaching the higher standard across all three subjects. Individual subject scores are strong too: 88% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, 90% in writing and 85% in maths, with average scaled scores of 108 in reading and 107 in maths.

Looking more closely at the breakdown, the school’s previous inspection in 2007 rated it Outstanding overall, with Outstanding marks for early years provision, leadership and management. The current Good rating reflects a shift in standards, but the 2022 ungraded inspection found no cause to change that judgement. In terms of progress measures, the data does not include any progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. However, the attainment figures are solid, particularly in writing where 90% of pupils met the expected standard and 32% reached the higher standard. The school ranks 9th in the local authority overall, just behind top performers like Freshford Church School and St Julian’s Church School, and the nearest Outstanding-rated school is Widcombe CofE Junior School, about 2 km away.

St Stephens Church School is a Church of England primary for mixed pupils aged 4 to 11, with 355 pupils on roll against a capacity of 420. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 96 applications for 58 places, with 60 first-preference applications and 58 offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.66. The school has a relatively low proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 6.5%. Facilities include a sports hall, playing fields, a forest school, an ICT suite, a gymnasium and a chapel. There are clubs such as science, gardening, book club, art club and chess, and sports include netball, tennis, swimming and rounders. The school lists SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disabilities and other difficulties. This is a well-regarded local primary that suits families who value strong core academic outcomes and a Church of England character, and who are prepared for a competitive admissions process.

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