Towcester Church of England Primary School

Towcester Church of England Primary School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating across all inspection categories. The school offers a nurturing and engaging learning environment where pupils are motivated and supported to thrive academically, personally, and socially. Staff effectively ensure that the curriculum is rich, promoting learning through enjoyable lessons that include diverse activities and real-world experiences. The school's focus on early reading is particularly commendable, with robust phonics instruction that has demonstrated positive outcomes for pupils' reading fluency and comprehension. However, despite notable achievements, some pupils in the Year 6 cohort have struggled with mathematics and grammar, punctuation, and spelling due to gaps in knowledge resulting from the pandemic, which the school is actively addressing.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy a happy and engaging learning environment.
• Teaching of phonics is excellent and effective.
• Pupils find lessons to be fun and interactive.
• The curriculum is rich and relevant to pupils' interests.
• The personal development programme effectively builds character.
• Strong pastoral support helps pupils with emotional needs.

Areas for Improvement

• Some subject leaders are new and need further guidance.
• Gaps in knowledge from the pandemic affected Year 6 attainment in mathematics and grammar.

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 Towcester Church of England Primary School attended 95.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.9% 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, 2.4% of pupils at Towcester 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 Towcester Church of England Primary School had 22.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 50.7% 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, 16.5% of pupils at Towcester Church of England 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 2024–25 Towcester Church of England Primary School received £6,862 and spent £7,249 for each of its 300 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £319,000 (£1,063 per pupil).

Across all 36 schools of Peterborough Diocese Education Trust, income was £6,820 and spending £6,815 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 Towcester · West Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

Towcester Church of England Primary School is part of Peterborough Diocese Education Trust, which runs 36 schools. The nearest others:

• Greens Norton Church of England Primary School Towcester
• Silverstone Church of England Primary School Towcester
• Blakesley Church of England Primary School Towcester
• Milton Parochial Primary School Northampton
• Collingtree Church of England Primary School Northampton
• Kislingbury Primary School Northampton
• St Luke's Church of England Primary School Northampton
• St James Church of England Primary School Northampton
• Staverton Church of England Voluntary Primary School Daventry
• Spratton Church of England Primary School Northampton

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

The latest Ofsted rating for Towcester Church of England Primary School is Good, from an inspection in June 2024.

When was Towcester Church of England Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Towcester Church of England Primary School was last inspected in June 2024.

How many pupils does Towcester Church of England Primary School have?

Towcester Church of England Primary School has 267 pupils on roll.

What age range does Towcester Church of England Primary School cover?

Towcester Church of England Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 71% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Towcester Church of England Primary School?

Towcester Church of England Primary School is at Islington Road, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 6AU.