Buckton Fields Primary School
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Buckton Fields Primary School is a free school in Northampton for boys and girls aged 4 to 11. It has 289 pupils and room for 420. About 6 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 88 out of 100. That puts it well above schools like it, ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Home Farm Drive, Northampton, NN2 8ES01604 931030bucktonschool.org.ukMrs Sarah Straiton (Maternity Cover) headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 25 June 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
200 places were empty (48% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 368% since 2021/22.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to West Northamptonshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 29.0 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 28.8 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (7), Moderate learning difficulty (4), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (4), Specific learning difficulty (4), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), Severe learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 289 | 221 | 168 | 104 | 47 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 6% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 0% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 12% | 10% | 10% | 5% | 9% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 5% | 0% | 1% | 2% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 4.5% | 5.7% | 5.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.3% | 4.4% | 4.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 9.7% | 13.4% | 8.2% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehills Primary School | Council | 520 m | 415 | No overall grade 2025 | 33 | Compare |
| Boughton Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 199 | Good 2023 | 64 | Compare |
| Sunnyside Primary Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 364 | No overall grade 2025 | 25 | Compare |
| All Saints CofE VA Primary School | Church of England | 1.1 miles | 402 | Good 2022 | 33 | Compare |
| Kingsthorpe Village Primary School | Council | 1.2 miles | 202 | Report card 2026 | 39 | Compare |
| Green Oaks Primary Academy | Academy | 1.2 miles | 220 | Not inspected | 31 | Compare |
| The Bramptons Primary School | Council | 1.2 miles | 94 | Good 2023 | 82 | Compare |
| The Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School | Academy | 1.4 miles | 282 | No overall grade 2025 | 47 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Buckton Fields Primary School with the 45 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 45 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 88 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 88% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 71 to 95. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | in line | +0.03 | Ofsted grade, 2.2 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well above | +0.43 | results and attendance rising year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | above | +0.13 | 2024/25; 175 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Buckton Fields Primary School a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Buckton Fields Primary School scores 88 out of 100. That is well above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 71% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 71 to 95, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been getting better over the last five years.
What is Buckton Fields Primary School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Buckton Fields Primary School good at its last full inspection on 25 June 2024.
How many pupils does Buckton Fields Primary School have?
289 pupils aged 4 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 420 places, so it is 69% full.
Is Buckton Fields Primary School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 200 places were empty in 2024/25 (48% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Buckton Fields Primary School?
Pupils were in school 95.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 10% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Buckton Fields Primary School?
The average class had 28.9 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Home Farm Drive, Northampton, NN2 8ES
- Telephone
- 01604 931030
- Website
- bucktonschool.org.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Straiton (Maternity Cover)
- Type of school
- Free school (Free schools, free schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 4-11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Preston Hedges Trust (6 schools)
- Local authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Ward
- Moulton
- Constituency
- Daventry
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2021 (new provision)
- URN
- 148569 · LAESTAB 9412247 · UKPRN 10088741
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.