St Leonard's Church of England Primary School

St Leonard's Church of England Primary School is a highly inclusive school where pupils feel safe, behave well and are well supported. Leaders are ambitious and have created a strong culture of high expectations, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils. The school’s specially resourced provision for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties is a notable strength, providing high-quality care and education, and the personal development and wellbeing programme is comprehensive and tailored. Safeguarding standards are met. However, pupils’ achievement is not yet good enough. Published outcomes in national tests are below national averages, and progress is inconsistent across subjects and year groups. Some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, have gaps in reading, writing and mathematics, and improvements to reading are not fully embedded. Persistent absence also remains a concern for some pupils. Leaders are taking appropriate action and governance is strong, but continued work is needed to secure rapid improvement in attendance and achievement.

Strengths

• Highly inclusive school with a culture of high expectations and ambition for all pupils.
• Systematic and swift identification of pupils with SEND and wider vulnerabilities.
• Strong support and interventions help pupils access learning and make progress from their starting points.
• Specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND provides a high standard of care and education.
• Leaders rigorously monitor additional funding to reduce barriers for disadvantaged pupils.
• Comprehensive personal development and wellbeing programme tailored to pupils’ needs.
• Pupils learn how to stay safe, stay healthy and build positive relationships.
• Pupils behave well, are respectful and polite, and feel safe; bullying is not tolerated.
• Pupils benefit from a broad range of enrichment opportunities that broaden their horizons.
• Early years curriculum is carefully sequenced, with a sharp focus on communication and core skills.
• Leaders are ambitious, have a clear vision and understand the school’s strengths and areas for development.
• Governors provide effective support and challenge and hold leaders to account appropriately.
• Staff are well supported, motivated and committed, with a strong culture of care.
• Pastoral support is carefully considered and strategies are put in place swiftly.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils’ achievement is not yet good enough; published outcomes in national tests are below national standards.
• Progress and achievement are inconsistent across subjects and year groups.
• Some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, have gaps in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Improvements to the reading curriculum and teaching are not fully embedded, so gaps remain for some pupils.
• In some subjects, pupils’ key knowledge is less secure, leaving them less prepared for the next stage.
• Persistent absence remains a concern for some pupils.
• Overall absence and persistent absence are above national averages.
• Some gaps remain in early years reading progress, particularly among disadvantaged children.
• Phonics teaching needs to be sufficiently embedded and skilful across the school.
• Consistently high-quality teaching is needed to help pupils apply key knowledge and skills across the curriculum.
• Continued work is required to secure rapid improvement in attendance and achievement.

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 St Leonard's Church of England Primary School attended 93.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.5% 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, 0.6% of pupils at St Leonard's Church of England 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 St Leonard's Church of England Primary School had 20.0 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, 15.8% of pupils at St Leonard's Church of England Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 10 pupils.

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 St Leonard's Church of England Primary School received £7,642 and spent £7,361 for each of its 325 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £149,000 (£458 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 Banbury · Oxfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is St Leonard's Church of England Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Leonard's Church of England Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was St Leonard's Church of England Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Leonard's Church of England Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does St Leonard's Church of England Primary School have?

St Leonard's Church of England Primary School has 336 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Leonard's Church of England Primary School cover?

St Leonard's Church of England Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Leonard's Church of England Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 44% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Leonard's Church of England Primary School?

St Leonard's Church of England Primary School is at Overthorpe Road, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 4SB.