St Pauls CofE VA Primary School Review 2026: A small Cambridge primary with strong KS2 outcomes

Centred on the Mill Road area of Cambridge, St Pauls CofE VA Primary School is a compact, urban primary where inclusion and community sit alongside rising academic expectations. The current headteacher, Mrs Helen Darrell, joined in January 2019, after a period of interim leadership, and the school’s recent trajectory has been one of consolidation and improvement.

The latest Ofsted inspection (covering visits in May and June 2021) judged the school Good across all areas, including early years. Academic results in the most recently available dataset are a clear strength for a school of this size, with an especially strong combined reading, writing and maths headline that outperforms England averages.

The school’s own language foregrounds “life in all its fullness”, and much of the day-to-day character flows from that broad, human view of education: pupils are expected to learn hard, but also to belong, contribute, and be known well.

The pupil community is notably diverse, and that is treated as a lived feature rather than a brochure line. External evaluation describes a community where differences of background and belief are recognised and valued, with pupils learning from one another as part of normal school life.

Leadership matters in small schools because changes land quickly. Mrs Darrell’s January 2019 start date is important context: much of the current culture and the sharper focus on curriculum expectations sit within that post-2019 improvement phase.

As a Church of England voluntary aided school, faith is present in routines and language, but the tone is explicitly invitational and inclusive. Daily collective worship is part of the rhythm of the week, sometimes led by the vicar, staff, visitors, or pupils, with regular occasions held at the local church and families invited for some services.

This is a primary school, so the clearest academic snapshot comes from Key Stage 2 outcomes.

In 2024, 81% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined. The England average is 62%, so the school is materially ahead on the headline measure parents tend to use first. At the higher standard, 26% achieved greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics, compared with an England average of 8%.

The scaled scores add detail to that picture. Reading is 108 and maths is 106, both above typical national benchmarks, and grammar, punctuation and spelling is 108.

Rankings reinforce the same story. Ranked 2950th in England and 34th in Cambridge for primary outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), the school sits above England average, placing it comfortably within the top 25% of schools in England.

What this tends to mean in practice is that teaching and curriculum sequencing are doing their job consistently across year groups. It also suggests that families do not need a “perfect” learner to benefit here, since strong outcomes usually require more than a small group of high attainers carrying the headline.

A key strength is the way reading is positioned as central, not peripheral. Formal evaluation describes reading as sitting at the heart of the curriculum, with systematic phonics from Reception and careful matching of early reading books to the school’s phonics programme.

On the school’s own curriculum pages, the approach is made practical through specific frameworks and shared language. For reading comprehension, staff reference VIPERS (Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise/sequence) as a structure for teaching and discussing texts, which helps pupils build habits of close reading rather than guessing.

Mathematics is described in external evaluation as strong and cumulative, with pupils given frequent opportunities to practise new learning and revisit prior content, which is exactly what tends to prevent “gaps” from widening as pupils move into upper key stage 2.

As a Church school, religious education is also a defined part of the learning model. The school states that it follows the Cambridgeshire SACRE locally agreed syllabus (2023 to 2028) and uses the Emmanuel Project for world faiths and views, which signals an RE curriculum that expects pupils to engage with Christianity and other beliefs in a structured way.

A useful nuance for parents is that curriculum quality is not always uniform across every subject in a small primary. The 2021 inspection notes that some foundation subjects needed clearer identification of the specific knowledge pupils should remember, and that subject leadership strength varied. This does not negate the overall quality judgement, but it does help explain why some areas may feel more “finished” than others.

As a state primary, progression is shaped by Cambridgeshire’s coordinated secondary admissions and by family preference, rather than by a single named destination list.

For most families, the practical question is: which secondary schools are realistic from your address, given local catchments and admission rules that can change year to year. Cambridgeshire explicitly advises families to research catchments, admissions criteria, and transport implications as part of the process.

What St Pauls can offer, based on its academic profile, is a strong preparation for a wide spread of secondary pathways. Pupils leaving Year 6 with secure reading fluency and confident mathematical fundamentals tend to transition more smoothly into Key Stage 3, regardless of whether the chosen secondary school is highly academic or more mixed in intake.

Parents shortlisting secondaries can use FindMySchool’s Local Hub and Comparison Tool to view local options side-by-side, then sanity-check travel time and route practicality before committing to preferences.

Reception admissions are run through Cambridgeshire’s coordinated system, rather than direct application to the school. For September 2026 entry, the Cambridgeshire “First Steps” booklet sets out the key dates clearly: applications opened from 11 September 2025, with the national closing date of 15 January 2026, and offer day on 16 April 2026.

If you are reading this after mid-January 2026, the timing still matters. Cambridgeshire’s published guidance also describes how late applications are handled, with on-time offers on 16 April 2026 and later processing after that point.

Demand is a defining feature. For the most recent reception admissions snapshot provided here, there were 48 applications for 21 offers, which equates to 2.29 applications per place. That level of oversubscription typically means you should treat admission as competitive and build a realistic preference strategy with fallback options.

As a voluntary aided Church of England school, faith-based criteria may apply for some places. The school states that if applying on religious grounds, a supplementary information form must also be returned directly to the school, in addition to the local authority application.

Visits and open events are part of how many families decide. The school notes that tours can be arranged, and it typically runs open afternoons in the autumn term. In 2025, those were scheduled in October and November, which is the usual seasonal pattern for reception intake planning.

If you are measuring proximity as part of your plan, use FindMySchool’s Map Search to check exact walking distance from your front door to the school gates, then compare with any published distance information for your cohort year if available. Even in schools without a single hard “cut-off”, distance often matters in tie-break situations.

A small school can provide a level of personal knowledge that is harder to replicate in larger settings, and the pastoral picture here is closely tied to that scale. External evaluation describes pupils feeling safe and describes positive relationships between pupils and staff, with leaders taking bullying seriously and the issue being uncommon.

The inspection confirmed safeguarding arrangements are effective, describing staff training, vigilance in recording concerns, and prompt action by leaders when support is needed.

Beyond safeguarding, inclusion is also a meaningful theme. Provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is described as strong, with adaptation of curriculum and close work with parents. This matters for families who want a mainstream primary but need confidence that support will be specific rather than generic.

As a Church of England school, pastoral culture is also reinforced through daily collective worship and the associated language of reflection, community responsibility, and service. The school’s approach is framed as inclusive, with regular opportunities for the wider community to participate at church services.

Clubs and enrichment often tell you what a school values when the timetable pressure eases.

The school’s clubs offer is unusually specific for a primary website, which is helpful. Alongside sport, chess, and coding, pupils can join interest-led groups including Eco Club, Poetry Club, Worship Club, and a pupil-run newspaper club producing The Epistle.

Several of these have clear structures that suit working families and children who like predictable routines. Chess Club, for example, was launched in Autumn 2023 in response to pupil demand and runs on Friday mornings from 8.00am to 8.45am for Years 3 to 6. Poetry Club meets in the library on Thursday lunchtimes and includes performance opportunities in assembly, which is a strong route for confident speaking without the full pressure of a staged production.

Worship Club is a good example of how the school integrates its Church identity without making it exclusive. It is described as open to children of all faiths and none, and is led by the vicar of St Paul’s, with activities designed to support pupils’ spirituality through reflection and creative work.

For pupils interested in computing, Code Club targets Years 3 to 6 and frames the offer as digital making, which fits well with the structured reading and maths emphasis described elsewhere.

Lunch-time sport is also organised with external coaching through the Youth Dreams Project, with activities shaped by pupil feedback and evolving through the year, which is a sensible model for maximising participation on a small site.

The published school day runs from 8.55am to 3.30pm, with gates opening at 8.45am and closing at 8.55am, then reopening at 3.30pm for pick-up.

Wraparound care is available on-site via Cambridge Kids Club. Breakfast club runs from 7.30am until the start of the school day, and after-school provision runs to 6.00pm, with an earlier 4.30pm pick-up option.

Given the central Cambridge location, many families will walk, cycle, or use short bus connections. The main practical constraint tends to be congestion at peak times, so it is worth testing your route at 8.30am and 3.15pm rather than assuming an off-peak travel time.

• Oversubscription pressure. With 2.29 applications per place in the most recent reception snapshot provided here, competition is a real feature of the admissions experience. If you are outside the likely priority group for your cohort, plan multiple realistic preferences.

• Faith-based paperwork may apply. As a voluntary aided Church of England school, families applying on religious grounds are told to complete an additional supplementary information form. That adds an extra compliance step and deadline discipline.

• Foundation subjects may feel uneven. The 2021 inspection highlights that some subjects needed clearer specification of what pupils should remember, and that subject leadership depth varied. If history, geography, art, or design technology are central to your child’s interests, ask how these areas have developed since 2021.

• Small-school trade-offs. Small can mean personal and calm; it can also mean fewer parallel friendship groups and fewer “set” options for enrichment. For some children that is ideal; for others it can feel limiting.

St Pauls CofE VA Primary School offers a combination that is hard to find: a small, community-shaped primary with KS2 outcomes that sit well above England averages. The Church of England character is present in daily worship and in a strong emphasis on inclusion, alongside a clubs offer that includes genuinely distinctive options such as The Epistle newspaper club, Poetry Club, and Worship Club.

Who it suits: families who want a central Cambridge primary where staff know pupils well, where reading and maths are taken seriously, and where a diverse intake is treated as an educational strength. The main challenge is admission in an oversubscribed context.