Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery

Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery is a welcoming Church of England primary school in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, serving a community with well-above-average disadvantage. Inspectors found the school performing solidly overall: personal development and wellbeing is a clear strength, while achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, and leadership and governance are all at the expected standard. Safeguarding standards are met. Pupils are proud of their school, behave well, benefit from a broad enrichment offer and strong pastoral care, and are well supported to feel safe and included. The school has an ambitious, well-designed curriculum and effective teaching, with early reading and mathematics foundations secured early. Pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils are generally well supported and make suitable progress, and disadvantaged pupils achieve better than disadvantaged pupils nationally. Leadership is ambitious, governors are effective, and staff feel well supported. Key areas for improvement are that too few pupils reach higher standards, especially in writing, and pupils who are ready to move on are not always given work that deepens their learning. Persistent absence remains above national levels, despite improvement, and leaders' monitoring of behaviour, inclusion interventions and overall impact on different groups is not systematic enough to inform strategic decisions.

Strengths

• Personal development and wellbeing is a clear strength, with an ambitious and coherent programme.
• Highly effective pastoral support meets the needs of pupils and families and supports attendance and learning.
• Pupils have a strong understanding of fundamental British values, tolerance and respect.
• Pupils welcome new arrivals and learn about different religions and worldviews.
• A wide range of enrichment, clubs, trips and residential activities is available to all pupils.
• Behaviour is calm and highly effective, with pupils polite, self-disciplined and supportive of each other.
• Bullying is rare and dealt with swiftly when it occurs.
• Leaders have built a coherent and ambitious curriculum tailored to the school's context.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge and use effective training and assessment to help pupils remember and progress.
• Pupils with SEND are generally well supported and typically able to access the curriculum successfully.
• Early years provision is strong, with a clear focus on communication, language, early reading and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils make suitable progress and achieve better than disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Leaders and governors are ambitious and have an accurate understanding of the school's context.
• Staff feel well supported, workload is managed well and professional development is valued.
• Parents and carers are typically positive about the school and its caring ethos.

Areas for Improvement

• Fewer pupils reach the higher standards, particularly in writing.
• Pupils who are ready to move on do not always receive work that challenges them to deepen their learning.
• Persistent absence remains above the national average and a minority of pupils do not attend regularly.
• Overall absence is above the national average, although it is improving.
• Leaders' monitoring is not systematic enough in some areas to show the impact of their work.
• Leaders do not always have oversight of the overall impact of inclusion interventions.
• Monitoring of behaviour incidents and inclusion strategies needs stronger analysis by pupil group.
• Strategic decision-making is limited by gaps in monitoring information.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery attended 93.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.9% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery had 19.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 14.9% of pupils at Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery received £9,391 and spent £8,700 for each of its 184 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £383,000 (£2,088 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery last inspected by Ofsted?

Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery have?

Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery has 188 pupils on roll.

What age range does Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery cover?

Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery?

Christ Church CofE Controlled Primary School and Nursery is at Claremont Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, West Midlands, B11 1LF.