Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School

Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School is a small village church school that has moved successfully through a period of change and is now performing well. Inspectors found the school good for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management, with early years provision outstanding. This is a marked improvement from its previous requires improvement judgment, and safeguarding is effective. Pupils are happy, safe and behave well. They benefit from a warm and inclusive community, high expectations, a balanced and ambitious curriculum, a strong reading culture, accurate support for pupils with SEND, and a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities. Leaders, staff and governors are committed, and children in early years make an excellent start. The main area to improve is in a few foundation and wider curriculum subjects, where activities do not consistently develop deep thinking, reasoning and independent problem-solving, so pupils are less secure in applying subject-specific skills independently. Attendance is now in line with national averages, but leaders should continue raising it for some pupils.

Strengths

• Warm, inclusive village school at the heart of the community
• Pupils feel safe, happy and behave well
• High expectations and a strong belief that every pupil can succeed
• Leaders have steered the school successfully through change, with committed staff and effective governors
• Balanced and ambitious curriculum carefully built for mixed-age classes
• Sharp focus on vocabulary from the start
• Early years provision is outstanding and children make an excellent start
• Accurate identification of SEND with tailored support so pupils access the curriculum alongside classmates
• Strong reading culture with a fully embedded phonics programme
• Calm, orderly classrooms with clear teaching and useful flashback sessions
• Rich enrichment and pupil leadership opportunities, including charity work
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• In a few foundation and wider curriculum subjects, task design does not consistently support deep thinking, reasoning and independent problem-solving
• Pupils are less secure in applying subject-specific skills independently in those subjects
• Attendance for some pupils still needs to be raised further

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 Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.1% 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, 2.4% of pupils at Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School 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 Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School had 15.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.1% 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, 22.0% of pupils at Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.1% 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 Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School received £8,619 and spent £8,540 for each of its 88 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £20,000 (£226 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Newbury · West Berkshire local authority: places and applications

What is Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School is Good, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School have?

Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School has 91 pupils on roll.

What age range does Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School cover?

Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 60% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School?

Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School is at Love Lane, Donnington, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2JG.