Deanshanger Primary School

Deanshanger Primary School is a school with clear strengths in pupils’ personal development, behaviour, and early years provision, but its quality of education and leadership and management require improvement. Pupils are polite, friendly, and behave well, and they benefit from a wide range of clubs, responsibilities, and outdoor learning. Children get off to a strong start in the early years, where the curriculum is ambitious and well considered, especially in early language and writing. Safeguarding is effective, and staff feel well supported by recent improvements. However, the school’s academic ambition has not been high enough, and pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, reading and phonics support varies in quality, and teaching does not consistently address misconceptions or provide helpful feedback. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities do not achieve as well as they should because their needs have been identified slowly and adaptations are not consistently well aligned. Mathematics standards have been weak, although recent changes and effective staff support show early signs of improvement. Leadership has not maintained an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, and governance oversight and accountability have not been robust enough, meaning some weaknesses have not been addressed swiftly. The school is part of The Grand Union Partnership and has had a new executive headteacher since September 2024. Recent changes have brought a clearer vision and a plan for rapid improvement, and governance is now checking progress more regularly.

Strengths

• Pupils are friendly, polite, and demonstrate good manners around the school.
• Behaviour is good, and incidents of poor behaviour are rare.
• Older pupils support younger pupils to play well together at playtimes.
• Pupils take on responsible roles such as school councillor, prefect, mini-medic, and club leader.
• Clubs and activities, including sports, music, games, and forest school, develop pupils’ talents and character.
• Children get off to a strong start in the early years through an ambitious and well-considered curriculum.
• Early years provision has a strong emphasis on early language and writing development.
• Pupils enjoy reading, and the library is well stocked with books that interest older pupils.
• Personal development provision is well considered and helps pupils learn about health, well-being, equality, and difference.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Staff feel well supported to make improvements, and the positive impact of recent action is evident.

Areas for Improvement

• The school’s academic ambition for pupils has not been high enough, and pupils do not achieve as well as they should.
• Support for pupils to become fluent readers is inconsistent because phonics and reading teaching are not checked sufficiently and some staff lack the right expertise.
• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, and the school does not check implementation and impact carefully enough.
• Staff do not receive the support they need to implement the curriculum consistently well.
• Teaching does not consistently identify and address pupils’ misconceptions or provide clear and helpful feedback.
• Mathematics standards have been weak, although recent changes are beginning to improve pupils’ knowledge.
• The school has been slow and imprecise in identifying the needs of pupils with SEND, and adaptations to learning are often not well aligned with their needs.
• Governance has not maintained strong enough oversight or held the school to account for the impact of its actions and decisions.
• Leadership at all levels has not had an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, so some issues have not been addressed swiftly.

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 Deanshanger Primary School attended 95.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.6% 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 Deanshanger 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 Deanshanger Primary School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 30.1% 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, 8.9% of pupils at Deanshanger Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.5% 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 Deanshanger Primary School received £6,226 and spent £6,004 for each of its 296 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £105,000 (£356 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of The Grand Union Partnership, income was £6,575 and spending £6,593 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 Milton Keynes · West Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

Deanshanger Primary School is part of The Grand Union Partnership, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Old Stratford Primary School Milton Keynes
• New Bradwell Primary School Milton Keynes
• Jubilee Wood Primary School Milton Keynes
• Tickford Park Primary School Newport Pagnell

What is Deanshanger Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Deanshanger Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Deanshanger Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Deanshanger Primary School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Deanshanger Primary School have?

Deanshanger Primary School has 257 pupils on roll.

What age range does Deanshanger Primary School cover?

Deanshanger Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Deanshanger Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Deanshanger Primary School?

Deanshanger Primary School is at The Green, Deanshanger, Deanshanger Primary School, the Green, Deanshanger, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK19 6HJ.