Stanley Common Church of England Primary School

About Stanley Common Church of England Primary School

Stanley Common Church of England Primary School is a small state primary in Erewash, Derbyshire, and for parents considering it, the first thing to know is that it is heavily oversubscribed. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 9 applications for just 2 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 4.5. That means for every place available, more than four families wanted it. However, only 2 of those applications were first-preference choices, which suggests that while demand is intense among a small group, the school may not be a top pick for the wider local area. ParentView data is not available in the school’s most recent records, so there is no direct recommendation percentage to draw on. What is clear is that the school is very small — just 38 pupils against a capacity of 70 — and nearly half of its pupils (47.4%) are eligible for free school meals, a figure well above the national average. The headteacher is Paula Martin.

Academically, the picture is more concerning. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2022, the school was rated Inadequate overall, a significant drop from its previous Good rating in 2016. Every graded area — quality of education, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, early years provision — was judged as Requires improvement, while leadership and management was also rated Inadequate. The school’s local authority, Derbyshire, has 9 outstanding primary schools out of 353 total, and the nearest outstanding alternative, Morley Primary School, is just 2.3 km away. On the key stage 2 national tests, the local authority average is 59, but Stanley Common’s own KS2 SATs results are not recorded in the available data. Without those figures, it is difficult to compare the school’s academic performance directly against its neighbours, but the Ofsted rating alone signals serious concerns about the quality of education on offer.

On the practical side, the school does offer a range of facilities and provisions that may appeal to some families. It has a Forest School, a chapel, art studios, a sports hall, playing fields, and a library, alongside clubs like book club, film club, and choir. Sports include football, cricket, rounders, cross country, and dance. For children with additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions for social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. Given its small size and high FSM rate, this is a school that likely serves a tight-knit, local community. But with an Inadequate Ofsted rating and no published exam results, it is a school that would require careful scrutiny from any parent — particularly those who can access the nearby outstanding alternative. The oversubscription ratio suggests some families are keen, but the data overall points to a school in need of significant improvement.

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