Boddington Church of England Primary Academy

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy is a small village primary school that has been through a turbulent period of leadership and staffing change. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils are happy, safe and attend regularly. Behaviour and personal development are clear strengths: pupils are courteous, relationships are warm, and the school's values and enrichment programme support pupils' wider development well. Attendance and persistent absence are better than national averages, and governance has fulfilled its statutory duties while supporting recent improvements, including in early years and phonics. However, the school is not yet preparing all pupils well for their next steps. Inspectors found weaknesses in curriculum design and delivery, particularly for mixed-age classes, leading to uneven progress and gaps in knowledge. Early years provision is inconsistent, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not consistently receive precisely matched support. Leadership actions lack precision and monitoring is not rigorous enough to identify weaknesses quickly, though leaders recognise these issues and are taking more pivotal steps. The school is part of Evolve Church Academy Trust and is in the process of transferring to a new trust to strengthen governance and improvement capacity. It has very small cohorts, so recent published achievement data are limited. Overall, the school has important strengths in its caring ethos, behaviour and personal development, but it needs to address significant inconsistencies in curriculum, early years, inclusion and leadership to improve outcomes for all pupils.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and attend school regularly, with persistent absence consistently below national averages.
• Behaviour and attitudes are a strength, with calm routines, warm relationships and rare incidents of bullying or discrimination.
• Personal development and wellbeing are woven through the school, underpinned by values of respect, courage and service.
• The PSHE curriculum is coherently sequenced and taught age-appropriately in mixed-age classes.
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain and show understanding of equality, discrimination and British values.
• Pupils take on responsibility through school council, head pupil elections and roles such as play leaders.
• The wider enrichment offer, including trips, forest school, sport, music and clubs, engages most pupils.
• Leaders work proactively to remove barriers to participation and use extra funding effectively for disadvantaged pupils.
• Recent phonics training and support are improving younger pupils' reading foundations, with gaps closing more swiftly.
• Staff maintain a consistent, calm approach to behaviour despite periods of turbulence.
• Governance fulfils statutory duties, has a clearer strategic view, and has secured recent early years improvements.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are identified and acted upon.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils are not prepared sufficiently well for their next steps because progress is uneven.
• Curriculum design does not build knowledge sequentially in all subjects and does not account well for mixed-age classes.
• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent; adaptations do not reflect pupils' age-related needs or starting points.
• Assessment is not used rigorously enough to identify and address misconceptions and gaps in knowledge.
• Early years curriculum and teaching are too inconsistent, with unclear learning intentions and inconsistent high-quality interactions.
• Children in early years are not as well prepared as they should be for their next stages of learning.
• Pupils with SEND do not receive precisely matched support; support plans and targets are not specific enough.
• Leaders do not check the quality and impact of SEND support sufficiently.
• Staff have had limited professional learning, though this is beginning to improve.
• Leadership actions to improve the school lack precision and impact, and monitoring is not close enough to identify weaknesses quickly.
• Support for pupils who find managing emotions difficult is sometimes inconsistent because strategies are not clearly defined in individual plans.
• Pupils' knowledge of different religions and cultures is less secure.

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 Boddington Church of England Primary Academy attended 96.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 5.0% 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, 8.3% of pupils at Boddington Church of England Primary Academy 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 Boddington Church of England Primary Academy had 26.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 37.0% 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, 11.5% of pupils at Boddington Church of England Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.8% 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 2024–25 Boddington Church of England Primary Academy received £9,713 and spent £11,370 for each of its 48 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £54,000 (£1,137 per pupil).

Across all 12 schools of East Midlands Academy Trust, income was £7,645 and spending £7,616 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Daventry · West Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy is part of East Midlands Academy Trust, which runs 12 schools. The nearest others:

• Culworth Church of England Primary Academy Banbury
• Chacombe CEVA Primary Academy Banbury
• Castle Academy Northampton
• Northampton International Academy Northampton
• Hardingstone Academy Northampton
• Stimpson Avenue Academy Northampton
• Naseby Church of England Primary Academy Northampton
• Orchard Academy Milton Keynes
• Shepherdswell Academy Milton Keynes
• Wilbarston Church of England Primary School Market Harborough

What is Boddington Church of England Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Boddington Church of England Primary Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Boddington Church of England Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Boddington Church of England Primary Academy have?

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy has 52 pupils on roll.

What age range does Boddington Church of England Primary Academy cover?

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

Where is Boddington Church of England Primary Academy?

Boddington Church of England Primary Academy is at Church Road, Upper Boddington, Daventry, Northamptonshire, NN11 6DL.