Brookside Primary School

Brookside Primary School is a good school with a strong sense of community. Pupils are proud of their school, respectful and kind to each other, and attendance is high. They feel safe because adults are there to support them. The curriculum is ambitious across all subjects, and pupils achieve well, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive excellent support, and parents are positive about the impact the school has on their children.

Strengths

• Ambitious, well-planned and sequenced curriculum across all subjects
• Strong achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• Reading prioritised from Reception with high-quality phonics teaching
• Excellent support for pupils with SEND, with effective identification and parent partnership
• Warm, respectful relationships and rare low-level disruption
• High attendance supported by close work with parents
• Well-established early years routines and high-quality staff interactions
• Wide range of extra-curricular clubs, trips and pupil leadership roles
• Clear leadership vision, effective governance and thoughtful staff workload consideration
• Effective safeguarding arrangements

Areas for Improvement

• Occasionally, planned activities and tasks do not match the intended learning well enough, so some pupils do not learn what leaders expect

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 Brookside Primary School attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.6% 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, 2.3% of pupils at Brookside Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Brookside Primary School had 21.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.8% 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, 11.8% of pupils at Brookside Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.8% 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 Brookside Primary School received £7,753 and spent £7,291 for each of its 300 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £360,000 (£1,199 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 Bicester · Oxfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Brookside Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Brookside Primary School is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Brookside Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Brookside Primary School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Brookside Primary School have?

Brookside Primary School has 306 pupils on roll.

What age range does Brookside Primary School cover?

Brookside Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Brookside Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 58% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Brookside Primary School?

Brookside Primary School is at Bucknell Road, Bicester, Oxfordshire, OX26 2DB.