Stonesfield Primary School

Stonesfield Primary is a small, maintained primary school where pupils are happy, polite and proud of their school. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision and safeguarding are strengths: children get off to a positive start, older pupils take on roles such as play leaders, and pupils learn to be respectful and safe. Reading is supported by high-quality texts and strong home-school links, and pupils with SEND receive additional support. The main areas for development lie in the quality of education and leadership. The curriculum has been reviewed and sets out essential knowledge in most subjects, but the tasks pupils are given do not consistently help them learn and remember that key content. Teachers do not routinely check understanding before moving on, so some pupils move ahead without secure foundations or repeat work unnecessarily. Phonics teaching is strong in early years but inconsistent for some older pupils, which limits their confidence in reading and writing. The school has clear priorities for improvement: matching tasks to intended knowledge, checking pupils' understanding more systematically, and making phonics teaching consistently effective. The report also notes that the school should ensure all parents understand how the new behaviour rules apply to all pupils, including those with SEND.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, polite and respectful, with positive attitudes to learning and each other.
• Behaviour and attitudes are good, supported by a new behaviour policy that most pupils follow well.
• Children get off to a positive start in early years, with strong phonics teaching and secure early mathematics.
• Pupils experience high-quality texts and benefit from strong home-school reading links.
• Pupils with SEND receive additional support from skilled adults, including to improve reading stamina.
• Personal development is strong, with extracurricular activities, trips and roles such as play leaders.
• Pupils feel safe and learn how to keep themselves safe online and in the community.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, learning activities do not help pupils secure the curriculum's essential knowledge, so learning does not build in complexity over time.
• Teachers do not routinely check what pupils know and can do before moving them on, leading to gaps or unnecessary repetition.
• Phonics teaching is inconsistent outside the early years, so some pupils are less confident in remembering and using sounds.
• Not all parents are clear about how the new behaviour rules work for all pupils, including those with SEND.
• The quality of education requires improvement because pupils are not securing curriculum knowledge sufficiently well across subjects.
• Leadership and management require improvement, with clear work still needed to embed curriculum, assessment and phonics consistency.

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 Stonesfield Primary School attended 93.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.9% 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 Stonesfield 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 Stonesfield Primary School had 21.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 79.3% 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, 27.8% of pupils at Stonesfield Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.6% 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 Stonesfield Primary School received £9,911 and spent £10,488 for each of its 72 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £18,000 (-£245 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 Witney · Oxfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Stonesfield Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stonesfield Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Stonesfield Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Stonesfield Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Stonesfield Primary School have?

Stonesfield Primary School has 72 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stonesfield Primary School cover?

Stonesfield Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 31% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Stonesfield Primary School?

Stonesfield Primary School is at High Street, Stonesfield, High Street, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX29 8PU.