St Andrew's Church School

St Andrew’s Church School is a welcoming and inclusive church primary within The Bath and Wells Diocesan Academies Trust. Pupils enjoy school, feel safe and benefit from warm pastoral care, and the early years provision, behaviour and personal development are notable strengths. Safeguarding is effective, and pupils have good opportunities to take on leadership roles and develop independence. The quality of education and leadership require improvement. Published key stage 2 outcomes remain significantly below national expectations in mathematics and writing, and some pupils are not well prepared for secondary education. Curriculum knowledge is not always precisely defined, teaching quality varies across classes, and assessment is not consistently used to identify gaps. Leadership changes and insufficient evaluation of improvement strategies have slowed progress. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new headteacher has been appointed since the previous inspection.

Strengths

• Welcoming and inclusive school community with warm, nurturing relationships between staff and pupils.
• Strong pastoral care and effective transition arrangements, including home and pre-school visits for children joining Reception.
• Pupils enjoy school, feel safe and generally behave well in lessons and around the school.
• A broad and balanced curriculum, with a particularly vibrant and well-thought-out early years environment.
• Subject-specific training has improved staff confidence in delivering the curriculum.
• Effective support for the growing number of pupils who speak English as an additional language.
• Most pupils with SEND are supported effectively in the classroom and follow the same broad curriculum as their peers.
• A positive reading culture, including daily songs and stories in Reception, class special books and author studies.
• Well-planned personal development helps pupils understand relationships, online safety, British values and the school’s spiritual ethos.
• Pupils take on leadership roles and develop independence and resilience through activities such as residential trips.
• Staff are supportive of planned changes, value professional development and feel workload is thoughtfully managed.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Published key stage 2 outcomes remain significantly below national expectations in mathematics and writing.
• Some pupils do not gain sufficient knowledge and skills to be well prepared for secondary education.
• The school and trust have not tackled weaknesses in education quickly enough.
• Curriculum knowledge is not broken down into enough detail, so some knowledge is not taught and pupils develop gaps.
• Teaching quality is variable across classes, and weaker practice does not consistently check pupils’ understanding or address misconceptions.
• Assessment and checks on prior and new learning are not always precise, including in phonics.
• Targets for pupils with SEND are not always linked to their progress through the curriculum.
• Significant leadership changes have hindered progress on identified improvement areas.
• There has been a lack of rigorous analysis of pupils’ outcomes and checking of the impact of changes over time.
• Further support and training are in place but have not yet had the intended positive impact.

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 Andrew's Church School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 6.8% 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, 0.8% of pupils at St Andrew's Church 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 Andrew's Church School had 25.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.4% 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, 12.6% of pupils at St Andrew's Church School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.0% 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 St Andrew's Church School received £5,985 and spent £6,275 for each of its 236 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £136,000 (£577 per pupil).

Across all 45 schools of The Bath and Wells Diocesan Academies Trust, income was £7,160 and spending £7,193 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 Taunton · Somerset local authority: places and applications

St Andrew's Church School is part of The Bath and Wells Diocesan Academies Trust, which runs 46 schools. The nearest others:

• St James Church School Taunton
• Staplegrove Church School Taunton
• Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School Taunton
• Norton Fitzwarren Church School Taunton
• Bishops Lydeard Church School Taunton
• Lydeard St Lawrence Community Primary School Taunton
• Wembdon St George's Church School Bridgwater
• St John and St Francis Church School Bridgwater
• St Mary's & St Peter's Church School Ilminster
• Shepton Beauchamp Church School Ilminster

What is St Andrew's Church School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Andrew's Church School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in October 2024.

When was St Andrew's Church School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Andrew's Church School was last inspected in October 2024.

How many pupils does St Andrew's Church School have?

St Andrew's Church School has 223 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Andrew's Church School cover?

St Andrew's Church School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are St Andrew's Church School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Andrew's Church School?

St Andrew's Church School is at Grove Terrace, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6HA.