Trinity St Mary's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, South Woodham Ferrers

About Trinity St Mary's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, South Woodham Ferrers

Trinity St Mary's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School sits within the Essex local authority, a large county with 444 primary schools. In the most recent local rankings based on KS2 expected standards, the school placed 312th, placing it in the bottom half of its peers. For context, the top-performing schools in the area include St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School in Colchester and Stambridge Primary School, both of which achieved a perfect ranking score of 100, followed closely by Great Totham Primary School on 95. Trinity St Mary's is a Church of England school in South Woodham Ferrers, part of the Chelmsford borough, and caters to 157 pupils aged 4 to 11, with a capacity of 206. The school is led by headteacher Janet Hoy and has a relatively high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 16.6%, which is above the national average for primary schools.

Academically, the school's most recent KS2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 47%, notably below the Essex local authority average of 62%. In individual subjects, reading and writing both saw 76% of pupils meeting the expected standard, while maths was lower at 53%. At the higher standard, writing performed best with 18%, followed by maths at 12%, and reading at just 6%. Average scaled scores were 103 for reading and 101 for maths. The school's Ofsted rating remains Good, confirmed in an ungraded inspection in March 2023, with leadership and management also judged Good. The previous graded inspection in 2012 had also rated overall effectiveness as Good, with early years provision at that time requiring improvement.

The school offers a range of facilities including a sports hall, library, ICT suite, forest school, sensory room, chapel and playing fields, and runs clubs such as science, chess, film, choir and coding. Sports on offer include cross country, football, gymnastics, cricket, rounders and swimming. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and hearing impairment. Admissions for the 2025/26 year show the school is oversubscribed: 42 applications were received for just 8 places, with all 8 first-preference applicants offered a place, giving an oversubscription ratio of 5.25. This suggests strong local demand, and the school may suit families who value a small, church-affiliated primary with a broad range of extracurricular activities and dedicated SEND support.

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