Shipham Church of England First School

Shipham Church of England First School is a small, welcoming and inclusive school that inspectors found to be performing well across all key areas. Pupils enjoy school, attend regularly and feel safe, and staff create a calm, purposeful environment with high expectations for behaviour that begin in the Nursery. The school has responded quickly and successfully to previous weaknesses in learning behaviours and the curriculum, and pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. Reading is a particular strength, with a well-sequenced phonics programme, early identification of pupils falling behind, and a strong culture of reading for pleasure. Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported effectively, and pastoral care for pupils and families is high quality. The school is part of the Wessex Learning Trust, and a new headteacher took up post in September 2024. The school’s personal development offer is rich, including trips, clubs, pupil roles and charitable work, and early years provision is strong, with impressive behaviour and personal development. The trust provides strong support and challenge, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The main area for improvement is assessment in the foundation subjects. The school has not yet established effective systems to check what pupils know and remember in all wider-curriculum subjects, so some pupils, including children in the early years beyond early reading and mathematics, have gaps in important knowledge. Leaders recognise this and need to ensure assessment supports pupils to know and remember more across the full curriculum.

Strengths

• Welcoming and inclusive school where pupils feel safe and attend regularly
• Calm and purposeful learning environment with high behavioural expectations from Nursery
• Quick and successful action to improve learning behaviours and the curriculum
• Strong early reading and phonics, with pupils achieving well in reading, writing and mathematics
• Effective early identification and support for pupils with SEND
• High-quality pastoral support for pupils and families
• Rich personal development offer including trips, clubs and pupil leadership roles
• Impressive behaviour and personal development in the early years
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Strong support, guidance and challenge from the trust

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment in foundation subjects is not yet fully established
• Some pupils do not remember important wider-curriculum knowledge because checks on learning are inconsistent
• Gaps remain in early years knowledge beyond early reading and mathematics

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 Shipham Church of England First School attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.1% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Shipham Church of England First 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 Shipham Church of England First School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 31.6% 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, 7.3% of pupils at Shipham Church of England First School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.9% 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 Shipham Church of England First School received £9,528 and spent £9,545 for each of its 73 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £62,000 (£846 per pupil).

Across all 22 schools of Wessex Learning Trust, income was £7,524 and spending £7,371 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 Somerset · Somerset local authority: places and applications

Shipham Church of England First School is part of Wessex Learning Trust, which runs 23 schools. The nearest others:

• Winscombe Primary School Winscombe
• Sandford Primary School Winscombe
• Axbridge Church of England First School Academy Axbridge
• Cheddar First School Cheddar
• The Kings of Wessex Academy Cheddar
• Fairlands Middle School Cheddar
• Weare Academy First School Axbridge
• Draycott & Rodney Stoke Church of England First School Draycott
• Wedmore First School Academy Wedmore
• Hugh Sexey Church of England Middle School Wedmore

What is Shipham Church of England First School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Shipham Church of England First School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Shipham Church of England First School last inspected by Ofsted?

Shipham Church of England First School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Shipham Church of England First School have?

Shipham Church of England First School has 82 pupils on roll.

What age range does Shipham Church of England First School cover?

Shipham Church of England First School for pupils aged 2 to 9.

Where is Shipham Church of England First School?

Shipham Church of England First School is at Turnpike Road, Shipham, Winscombe, Somerset, BS25 1TX.