Old Sarum Primary School

Old Sarum Primary School is part of the Magna Learning Partnership and was inspected in June 2025, having not previously been inspected under section 5. The school is described as more stable following a period of turbulence, with increasingly high expectations and improvements in attendance and behaviour over time. Personal development is a clear strength: pupils benefit from a rich programme of experiences through 'Project 50+', a strong reading culture, effective mental health and safety education, and good understanding of discrimination and respect. Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Strengths

• Personal development is highly successful, helping pupils understand safety, health, discrimination and respect.
• The 'Project 50+' initiative gives pupils a rich range of experiences and is a strength of the school.
• The school promotes a love of reading and pupils are proud of the new library space.
• Attendance has improved through strong relationships with families.
• Suspensions linked to poor behaviour have been reduced.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Mathematics teaching has improved, particularly in developing mathematical fluency.
• Pupils with SEND are accurately identified.
• The curriculum is ambitious in most areas and identifies the key knowledge pupils need in Years 1 to 6.
• Staff, including early career teachers, are overwhelmingly positive about changes and the support they receive.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent and much of the curriculum is new and not well embedded.
• Teachers do not systematically check pupils' understanding or provide clear explanations, so some pupils, including pupils with SEND, struggle to keep up.
• Staff do not always have the information they need to support pupils with SEND in the classroom.
• Writing is a weakness, with older pupils struggling to write accurately and at length.
• Early years and key stage 1 do not focus sharply enough on developing children's writing skills.
• Early years curriculum lacks strategic oversight, and activities sometimes lack purpose and adult direction.
• The behaviour policy is not applied consistently, so some pupils continue to disrupt learning and make others feel uncomfortable.
• Too many pupils do not read with age-appropriate fluency and comprehension.
• Pupils' achievement remains variable, and end-of-Year 6 outcomes have not been high enough.
• It is too early to see the impact of leaders' work across all aspects of the school.

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 Old Sarum Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.4% 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, 7.4% of pupils at Old Sarum 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 Old Sarum Primary School had 17.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 28.1% 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, 25.2% of pupils at Old Sarum Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.2% 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 Old Sarum Primary School received £7,107 and spent £8,239 for each of its 283 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £13,000 (-£47 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of Magna Learning Partnership, income was £7,766 and spending £7,975 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 Salisbury · Wiltshire local authority: places and applications

Old Sarum Primary School is part of Magna Learning Partnership, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Wyvern St Edmund's Academy Salisbury
• Pembroke Park Primary School Salisbury
• Sarum Academy Salisbury
• Salisbury Sixth Form College Salisbury
• Bemerton St John Church of England Primary Salisbury
• Amesbury Archer Primary School Amesbury
• Amesbury Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Salisbury
• The Trafalgar School at Downton Salisbury
• Morgan's Vale and Woodfalls Church of England Primary School Salisbury
• The New Forest Church of England Primary School Wilts

What is Old Sarum Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Old Sarum Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Old Sarum Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Old Sarum Primary School was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Old Sarum Primary School have?

Old Sarum Primary School has 242 pupils on roll.

What age range does Old Sarum Primary School cover?

Old Sarum Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 38% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Old Sarum Primary School?

Old Sarum Primary School is at Pheasant Drive, Old Sarum, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 6GH.