St Peter's CofE Academy

St Peter's CofE Academy is a happy, inclusive and nurturing primary school where pupils feel safe, behave well and form trusting relationships with staff. Children get off to a good start in the early years, reading is a clear priority and phonics is taught effectively. Pupils benefit from strong personal development, including leadership roles and wider opportunities, attendance is monitored rigorously and safeguarding arrangements are effective. However, the quality of education is uneven across subjects. In some subjects teaching and subject knowledge are secure, but elsewhere learning is not adapted well enough for all pupils, including some pupils with SEND, and assessment in wider curriculum subjects does not reliably check what pupils have remembered. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge and do not build on prior learning as well as they should. The school has experienced significant leadership and staffing change and joined the Blue Kite Academy Trust in January 2025. Trust oversight has brought stability and renewed challenge, and robust improvement plans are in place, but it is too early to see their full impact. Leaders' systems for evaluating the impact of their work are not yet precise enough to give a clear view of curriculum implementation in some subjects.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and form trusting relationships with staff.
• Pupils behave well and understand the school rules of 'ready, respectful, safe'.
• Early years provision is strong, with children listening carefully and following routines.
• Reading is a high priority and phonics is delivered effectively, helping pupils catch up quickly.
• Pupils with SEND are accurately identified and, where support is effective, achieve highly.
• Personal development is effective, with pupils understanding British values and taking on leadership roles.
• Attendance is monitored rigorously and persistent absence is reducing.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Trustees and governors provide appropriate support and challenge, and staff morale is high.
• The curriculum now clearly identifies the important knowledge and skills pupils need to learn and when.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education is too variable across subjects, leaving some pupils with gaps in knowledge.
• In some subjects, staff subject knowledge is less secure and learning is not adapted well enough to meet pupils' needs.
• Some pupils with SEND do not receive the support they need, which affects their progress through the curriculum.
• Assessment in wider curriculum subjects is not used well enough to check what pupils remember and to address gaps.
• Leaders' approaches for evaluating the impact of their work do not give a clear enough view of curriculum implementation in some subjects.
• Systems to check that pupils learn and remember the intended curriculum are not fully embedded.
• It is too early to see the impact of improvement plans on the quality of education pupils receive.

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 Peter's CofE Academy attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.9% 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, 1.0% of pupils at St Peter's CofE 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 St Peter's CofE Academy had 22.3 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, 13.5% of pupils at St Peter's CofE Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.8% 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 2023–24 St Peter's CofE Academy received £6,472 and spent £6,790 for each of its 186 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £21,000 (£115 per pupil).

Across all 24 schools of The Blue Kite Academy Trust, income was £6,027 and spending £7,133 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 Chippenham · Wiltshire local authority: places and applications

St Peter's CofE Academy is part of The Blue Kite Academy Trust, which runs 27 schools. The nearest others:

• Sutton Benger Church of England Primary School Chippenham
• Christian Malford CofE Primary School Chippenham
• Seagry Church of England Primary School Chippenham
• Somerfords' Walter Powell CofE Academy Chippenham
• Lydiard Millicent CofE Primary School Swindon
• Brook Field Primary School Swindon
• Ridgeway Farm CofE Academy Swindon
• Even Swindon Primary School Swindon
• Robert Le Kyng Primary School Swindon
• Lethbridge Primary School Swindon

What is St Peter's CofE Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Peter's CofE Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was St Peter's CofE Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Peter's CofE Academy was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does St Peter's CofE Academy have?

St Peter's CofE Academy has 185 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Peter's CofE Academy cover?

St Peter's CofE Academy for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are St Peter's CofE Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 48% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Peter's CofE Academy?

St Peter's CofE Academy is at Lord's Mead, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 0LL.