Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School is a warm, welcoming and nurturing school where pupils feel safe, valued and achieve well. Inspectors found the school performing well across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The curriculum is ambitious and clearly sequenced, reading and phonics are taught strongly, mathematics is improving, and pupils with SEND are well supported. Behaviour is positive, safeguarding is effective, and pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, responsibilities and personal-development opportunities. The school has dealt skilfully with significant flooding, building disruption and staffing changes, with leaders and staff maintaining safety and continuing to improve the curriculum. The trust provides effective support and challenge, and staff welfare is considered. The main areas for improvement are pupils' understanding of British values, which is not deep enough to prepare them fully for life beyond school, and persistent absence, which remains too high for too many pupils and means they miss essential learning.

Strengths

• Warm, welcoming and nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and valued
• Respectful relationships and positive pupil behaviour
• Ambitious, clearly sequenced curriculum with logical progression from early years to Year 6
• Strong mathematics provision with improving progress, including for pupils with SEND
• Very effective phonics teaching and a strong culture of reading
• Pupils with SEND have their needs met well and take an equal part in school life
• Early years provision provides personalised care and strong early literacy and numeracy
• Personal development is well supported through the character curriculum, clubs and responsibilities
• Leaders managed recent flooding, building works and staffing changes with minimal disruption
• Effective trust support and challenge, with consideration for staff welfare
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils do not develop sufficient depth of understanding of British values to prepare them well for life beyond school
• Too many pupils are persistently absent and miss essential learning
• Attendance is not high enough for too many pupils despite rigorous procedures

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 Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.3% 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, 1.5% of pupils at Stanhope Barrington CofE 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 Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.2% 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, 26.8% of pupils at Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.4% 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 Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School received £8,520 and spent £7,855 for each of its 125 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £86,000 (£690 per pupil).

Across all 21 schools of Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust, income was £7,271 and spending £7,125 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 Bishop Auckland · County Durham local authority: places and applications

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School is part of Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust, which runs 22 schools. The nearest others:

• Bishop Ian Ramsey CofE Primary School Consett
• Green Lane Church of England Primary School Barnard Castle
• Ingleton CofE Primary School Darlington
• Gainford Church of England Primary School and Preschool Darlington
• Newbrough Church of England Primary School Hexham
• Heighington Church of England Primary School Newton Aycliffe
• Henshaw Church of England Primary School Hexham
• St Aidan's Church of England Primary School Gateshead
• Wark Church of England Primary School Hexham
• St John's Church of England Academy Darlington

What is Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School have?

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School has 123 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School cover?

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School?

Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School is at Westcroft, Stanhope, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL13 2NU.