School Chooser

St Blaise CofE Primary School

Primary · ages 4-11MixedChurch of England169 pupilsAbingdonOxfordshire
School Chooser Score
32
Below
similar schools
Likely range 12 to 65, so it could be “in line”
Out of 100. Better than 44% of the 50 schools most like it. Slipping year on year.
OfstedGoodConfirmed by Ofsted, April 2024
Reached the expected level at 1156%England 63%
Attendance95.2%England 94.8%
Pupils from low-income families26%About the same as most schools in England
Places41 spare169 pupils, 210 places
Pupils per teacher23.0School workforce census

St Blaise CofE Primary School is a Church of England school (voluntary controlled) in Abingdon for boys and girls aged 4 to 11. It has 169 pupils and room for 210. About 26 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. We give it 33 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 44% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.

School Lane, Milton Heights, Abingdon, OX14 4DR01235 831368st-blaise.oxon.sch.ukMiss Rebecca Costello headteacherAll details

What Ofsted found

A shorter visit on 24 April 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.

Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.

Results

Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025

16 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England. With a year group this small, a couple of children can move the percentages a long way.

Reached the expected level at 1156%
England 63%
Official name: Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Working above the expected level13%
England 8%
Official name: Higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Reading score101.0
England 105.6
Official name: Reading average scaled score
Maths score100.0
England 104.6
Official name: Maths average scaled score
Trend
Reached the expected level at 11
2017 to 2025
2017: 57%57%20172018: 67%67%20182019: 60%60%20192023: 60%60%20232024: 53%53%20242025: 56%56%2025
Since 2017: -1%Declining overall
All Year 6 measures, year by year
Measure202520242023201920182017OxfordshireEngland
Pupils tested1615151097
Reached the expected level at 11Expected standard in reading, writing and maths56%53%60%60%67%57%63%63%
Working above the expected levelHigher standard in reading, writing and maths13%13%7%10%0%14%10%8%
Reading scoreReading average scaled score101.0103.0107.0106.0106.0106.0106.1105.6
Maths scoreMaths average scaled score100.0102.0104.0104.0102.0101.0104.4104.6
Grammar and spelling scoreGPS average scaled score101.0100.0102.0103.0104.0107.0104.8105.2
Expected level: readingReading expected standard63%73%80%80%89%86%
Expected level: mathsMaths expected standard56%53%67%70%78%71%
Expected level: writingWriting expected standard (teacher assessed)63%67%73%70%67%71%
Reading progressReading progress score+1.5+2.0+0.4+2.3
Maths progressMaths progress score+0.0-1.0-1.6-3.2
Expected level: other pupilsExpected standard, non-disadvantaged57%

There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.

Does every child do well here?

A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. None of the gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.

At the end of primary school, 2025

Reached the expected level at 11Boys vs girls
78%29%
Gap 49 ptsEngland 5 pts
First groupSecond groupEngland, each group

Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.

Getting a place

Admissions policy not published. As a Church of England school it may put families of that faith first. Check the school's own admissions rules.

Plenty of spare places151 pupils for 210 places, 2024/25
72% full

59 places were empty (28% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 25% since 2021/22.

Will my child get a place?

The last child to get a place lived 1.4 miles away in 2026, 2.0 miles away in 2023. Those cut-offs are for children living outside the catchment area; every child inside it got a place. Brothers and sisters of current pupils and other priority groups are placed first. Type in your postcode to see how far away you are.

We measure in a straight line from the middle of your postcode to the school. The council measures its own way, and the cut-off changes every year. Use this as a rough guide, and read the council's admissions booklet before you apply.

How places were given out for September 2026. Every child in the catchment area who applied got a place. Outside the catchment, the last place went to a child living 1.4 miles away. 28 families put it down as their first choice and 28 of them got in (100%).

EntryPlacesPut it firstApplied at allGot a placeFirst choices who got inHow far the last child livedSource
2026 Primary30285530100%1.4 miles (distance, outside the catchment area)LA
2025 Primary30197320100%all offeredLA
2024 Primary30226523100%all offeredLA
2023 Primary30257230100%2.0 miles (distance, outside the catchment area)LA

The distances are the council's own, usually measured in a straight line from home to the school gate. If the distance is getting shorter each year, the school is getting harder to get into. See which councils we have this data for.

What a home within 1.4 miles of the school costs

Typical sale price within 1.4 miles of the school£435,000half sold for £372k to £545k
Homes sold295December 2023 to December 2025, Land Registry
Compared with the district+9%a typical home in the district sells for £400,000

Every home sold within that distance of the school (the typical cut-off over the last three years), of any type, from HM Land Registry records. If homes here cost more than the district average, that is the price people pay to live close enough to get in.

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.

Pupils on roll169Census January 2026
Places21080% full
Pupils from low-income families26%26% have had free school meals at some point in the last six years
Pupils learning English10%First language is not English
Pupils getting extra support13%22 pupils with SEN support
Pupils with an EHC plan6%10 pupils with a plan
Average class size28.33 classes, January 2026; England 25.4
Classes with more than 30 pupils67%Infant classes are capped at 30 by law; England 10%
Pupils with extra funding (pupil premium)26%£63,550 extra funding in 2026/27; England 24%
Boys and girls93 / 76
White British pupils63%

Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 31.0 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 27.0 (England 27.3).

The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (9), language and communications needs (8), emotional and mental health (7), Moderate learning difficulty (4), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).

How the mix of pupils has changed
Census202620252024202320222021
Pupils on roll16914414212611798
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals26%23%20%21%17%21%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language10%6%4%5%4%4%
Pupils getting extra supportSEN support13%14%12%14%20%
Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans5%4%3%3%4%

Attendance and behaviour

In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.2% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.

Attendance95.2%
England 94.8%
Official name: 100 minus overall absence
Pupils missing a lot of school13.1%
England 12.8%
Official name: Persistent absence
Suspensions per 100 pupils23.62024/25, no permanent exclusions
Missed without permission0.8%of school time, 2024/25
Attendance year by year
Measure2024/252023/242022/232021/222020/212018/19England
Sessions missedOverall absence4.8%4.8%6.0%7.0%3.4%3.8%5.2%
Missed with permissionAuthorised absence4.1%4.0%5.4%5.8%3.0%2.9%
Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence0.8%0.8%0.6%1.2%0.4%0.9%
Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence13.1%8.7%12.8%16.5%5.8%6.5%12.8%
SuspensionsSuspension rate23.622.54.01.70.0
Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions00000

Staff and money

From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.

Teachers7.4full-time equivalent, 8 people
Pupils per teacher23.0Pupils for every full-time teacher
Fully qualified teachers100%hold qualified teacher status
Teaching assistants8.8full-time equivalent
Average teacher pay£47,706
Teachers who left in the year0%2024/25, for any reason including retirement
Vacancies0
Sick days per teacher1.82024/25

Money

From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.

Spend per pupil£7,150England £7,738. Total £1.0m
Income per pupil£7,667England £7,697. Total £1.1m
Spent on teachers per pupil£2,854England £3,480
Money in reserve12%A healthy amount put by: £135k, £939 per pupil. England 6%
Money in against money out+£74kit took in more than it spent this year
Where the money goes£7,150spent per pupil

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

Crimes within 500 m7412 months to June 2026, mostly other theft
Local crime rate56 per 1,000 people38% lower than the England average
Typical house price£400,000Vale of White Horse
Nearest bus stop300 mMilton Heights Turn, 2 stops within 500 m

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.

Well aboveAboveIn lineBelowWell belowNot scored
SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
St Michael's CofE Primary School, Steventon VillageAcademy1.0 miles207Not inspectedCompare
Harwell Primary SchoolCouncil1.2 miles210Good 202256Compare
Sutton Courtenay Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy1.3 miles187Requires improvement 20236Compare
Didcot Primary AcademyAcademy1.8 miles451Not inspected91Compare
Stephen Freeman Primary SchoolAcademy1.9 miles450Not inspectedCompare
Aureus Primary SchoolAcademy2.1 miles450Outstanding 202298Compare
Drayton Community Primary SchoolCouncil2.1 miles194Good 202342Compare
St Amand's Catholic Primary SchoolRoman Catholic2.2 miles90Good 201975Compare

Compared with schools like it

Our score compares St Blaise CofE Primary School with the 48 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 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.

Beats44%of schools with a similar mix of pupils
In the lower half of its group. Its score of 33 is 5 points below the typical school in the group.
0Lowest of the group 0 · middle 37 · highest 93100

How the score was worked out

The score is out of 100. A 33 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 33% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 12 to 65. 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 atHow much it countsAgainst schools like itEffect on the scoreBased on
Results over three years25%below
-0.09
2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 16 pupils
Ofsted inspection20%in line
+0.01
Ofsted grade, 2.4 years old
Progress pupils make20%in line
+0.00
DfE progress measure; 16 pupils
Direction of travel over five years10%below
-0.09
results and attendance falling year on year
Attendance and behaviour10%in line
+0.01
2024/25; 137 pupils
Results, allowing for the mix of pupils10%below
-0.06
Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 16 pupils
What parents say0%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 St Blaise CofE Primary School a good school?

The figures are weak. St Blaise CofE Primary School scores 33 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 44% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 12 to 65, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.

What is St Blaise CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

Ofsted rated St Blaise CofE Primary School good at its last full inspection on 24 April 2024.

How good are St Blaise CofE Primary School's SATs results?

In summer 2025, 56% of Year 6 children reached the expected level in reading, writing and maths. Across England it was 63%. 13% went further and reached the higher level. The year group was small, so the percentages jump around a lot from year to year.

How many pupils does St Blaise CofE Primary School have?

169 pupils aged 4 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 210 places, so it is 80% full.

Is St Blaise CofE Primary School oversubscribed, and how far away can you live?

Yes. For September 2026 the last place went to a child living 1.4 miles away. 28 families put it down as their first choice and 28 of them got in. Children in care, brothers and sisters of current pupils and other priority groups come before distance, so the cut-off moves every year.

What is attendance like at St Blaise CofE Primary School?

Pupils were in school 95.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 13% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.

How big are the classes at St Blaise CofE Primary School?

The average class had 28.3 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 67% of classes 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
School Lane, Milton Heights, Abingdon, OX14 4DR
Telephone
01235 831368
Website
www.st-blaise.oxon.sch.uk
Headteacher
Miss Rebecca Costello
Type of school
Church of England school (voluntary controlled) (Voluntary controlled school, local authority maintained schools)
Phase
Primary school, ages 4-11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Church of England, Diocese of Oxford
Local authority
Oxfordshire
Ward
Hendreds
Constituency
Didcot and Wantage
Setting
Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
URN
123178 · LAESTAB 9313260 · UKPRN 10080570

Where these figures come from