The FMS Inspection Score is FindMySchool's proprietary analysis based on official Ofsted and ISI inspection reports. It converts ratings into a standardised 1–10 scale for fair comparison across all schools in England.
Disclaimer: The FMS Inspection Score is an independent analysis by FindMySchool. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with Ofsted or ISI. Always refer to the official Ofsted or ISI report for the full picture of a school’s inspection outcome.
Small schools live or die by relationships, routines, and consistency. Here, those fundamentals are a clear strength. The July 2025 inspection describes pupils who feel safe, behave well, read confidently, and take pride in leadership roles, with older pupils supporting younger ones day to day.
The challenge is not the classroom experience, it is governance and oversight. External review highlights recent instability and gaps in systems, including areas like record-keeping, which pulled leadership and management below where it needs to be.
For families drawn to a Church of England education in a rural setting near Evesham, the offer is straightforward, a small mixed primary with weekly Forest School, structured curriculum planning, and a strong emphasis on kindness, responsibility, and community contribution.
This is a school where children are known well. Official reporting leans heavily on a family feel, with pupils taking on real responsibility and showing a sense of belonging. That matters in a very small setting, because peer culture is intensely felt. When the social tone is calm and supportive, the benefits are obvious for confidence and behaviour.
The day-to-day environment is also shaped by the local context. The school sits in the village of Cleeve Prior and positions itself as a long-established Church of England school, describing a history of over 150 years. If you want an education that feels closely tied to local community life, that comes through in the way pupils are described as contributing locally, including singing in a choir at a local home for older people and planting trees.
As a Church of England voluntary controlled school, the Christian character is not a light touch add-on. The school’s worship guidance states that collective worship should be distinctly Christian and reflect Anglican traditions. There are also pupil leadership roles linked to worship, including a Worship Crew that plans and leads worship across the year, and even takes Bible stories and songs to pre-school children through a named activity. For some families, this clarity is exactly the point. For others, it is something to weigh carefully.
Leadership is currently structured with an Executive Headteacher and a Head of School. Government information lists Mrs Andrea Donnelly as Executive Headteacher, while the school website names Mrs Sarah Laughlin as Head of School. A parish newsletter indicates that Mrs Donnelly had taken over the Executive Headteacher role by autumn 2025.
Published outcomes can be hard to interpret in very small primaries, because cohorts are tiny and data can be volatile year to year. The most useful external benchmark is therefore the quality of education evidence in the most recent inspection.
The latest Ofsted inspection took place on 15 July 2025. It graded Quality of Education as Good, Behaviour and Attitudes as Good, and Personal Development as Good, with Leadership and Management graded Requires Improvement; Early Years Provision was recorded as Insufficient evidence.
That combination is telling. It suggests that classroom practice, behaviour culture, and wider development are working well, while the systems around leadership oversight have not yet reached the same standard. In practical terms, families should expect day-to-day teaching and routines to feel secure, while leadership processes continue to tighten, especially around compliance and governance.
Curriculum choices are unusually transparent for a small primary. The school sets out named schemes and partners, which helps parents understand what learning looks like across mixed-age classes.
Mathematics follows White Rose, supported by NCETM materials and NRICH, which typically indicates structured sequencing plus problem solving and reasoning tasks. Computing is mapped to the NCCE Teaching Computing scheme, with online safety supported through Project Evolve.
In foundation subjects, the school uses Kapow for science, design and technology, and art, and it states that geography and history are also delivered through Kapow. For personal, social, health and relationships education, the stated approach includes Heart Smart and My Happy Mind.
Reading has strong emphasis in the inspection narrative. Pupils are described as reading well, with targeted support for those who find early reading harder, and older pupils reading widely and with enthusiasm. That matters in a mixed-age, small-cohort school because reading fluency is one of the most powerful levers for independence across the wider curriculum.
Early Years provision is presented on the website as curiosity-led, with children encouraged to see themselves as explorers, active learners, and critical thinkers. The inspection’s “insufficient evidence” note for early years should not be over-interpreted as a negative grade, it signals that inspectors did not gather enough evidence to make a judgement at that time.
For a small village primary, transition planning is often as much about fit and travel as it is about academic pathway. The school notes that some children move to middle school at the end of Year 5, while others move at the end of Year 6 to secondary schools including Chipping Campden School and Stratford High School.
That flexibility can suit families whose plans change, but it also means parents should be clear early on about likely routes, especially if considering a Year 5 transfer. The most practical approach is to ask directly how the school supports transition for each pathway, including visits, liaison with receiving schools, and how it prepares pupils academically and pastorally for the move.
Admissions are coordinated by Worcestershire County Council, rather than direct applications to the school. For September 2026 entry, applications opened on 1 September 2025, closed on 15 January 2026, and offers were due on 16 April 2026.
The school notes that if more than 15 applications are received, Worcestershire’s oversubscription criteria are applied to prioritise places. In the most recent admissions data available here, the Reception entry route recorded 4 applications and 4 offers, with the school described as fully subscribed. )
Open mornings are referenced on the admissions page, with a note that dates are published on the school website and that individual visits can be arranged if those timings do not work. If you are relying on a place, it is sensible to use FindMySchool Map Search to understand your exact distance and the likely travel pattern, then validate the practicalities with the local authority timeline.
Applications
4
Total received
Places Offered
4
Subscription Rate
1.0x
Apps per place
Pastoral culture appears to be a headline strength. The latest inspection describes pupils feeling safe, understanding kindness, and getting help from older pupils at social times. It also references calm classrooms and positive attitudes to learning, supported by strong staff-pupil relationships.
The school’s pupil leadership structures give pupils clear roles in shaping daily life. The website lists School Council, Eco Committee, Worship Crew, librarians, and sports or playground leadership roles. For many children, especially in a small school, having defined responsibilities can be a powerful way to build confidence, belonging, and pro-social behaviour.
Safeguarding content is referenced in published school documents, including named safeguarding leadership roles. Families should still expect to ask the usual practical questions during a visit, how concerns are handled, how attendance is monitored, and how online safety is taught, particularly given the inspection’s emphasis on tightening leadership oversight.
Enrichment here leans towards structured experiences embedded into the week rather than a long menu of clubs. The strongest example is Forest School. The school states that all children attend Forest School every week, with sessions delivered by Forest School Learning Initiative. That weekly cadence matters. Regular outdoor learning tends to build confidence with safe risk, teamwork, and language for reflection, which can carry back into classroom concentration and resilience.
The school also states that swimming lessons run for two terms each year, and that Key Stage 2 pupils are taught French using Language Angels. Music is supported through weekly drumming for Key Stage 1 delivered by Severn Arts, with Kapow used for Key Stage 2 music. These specifics help parents understand what children will actually experience, not just what is theoretically available.
For after-school activities, the school currently lists a Multi-sports Club on Fridays from 3:15pm to 4pm, run by Sprint Active. In a small primary, one well-run club can be more valuable than multiple options that rarely reach critical mass, because it becomes a dependable social anchor for children.
School hours are clearly published: 8:45am to 3:15pm, with gates opening at 8:30am for supervised drop-off.
Wraparound care is referenced in school policy documents as being available before and after school, booked in advance and charged to parents. However, the current website link for wraparound information appears not to be available, so parents should ask the office for up-to-date times, capacity, and booking process, especially if childcare is a deciding factor.
For travel, the school describes itself as being just outside Evesham and around 3 miles from Bidford-on-Avon. In practical terms, many families will treat this as a car-based school run, and it is worth checking parking and walking arrangements around drop-off and pick-up.
Leadership oversight still strengthening. The July 2025 inspection judged leadership and management as Requires Improvement, while other areas were Good. This points to a school where classroom experience is in better shape than governance and systems.
Very small cohort realities. Numbers on roll reported publicly are extremely low, which can be wonderful for individual attention but can limit peer-group breadth, especially for older pupils.
Faith character is explicit. Worship is stated to be distinctly Christian and Anglican in tradition. Families who prefer a lighter-touch faith offer should consider whether this matches their expectations.
Wraparound details need checking. Wraparound care is referenced as available, but published timings are not easy to locate, so families relying on childcare should verify the current offer early.
This is a small Church of England primary where pupils are described as happy, safe, well behaved, and well supported in reading and learning habits. The curriculum is structured and clearly set out, with weekly Forest School as a distinctive thread.
It suits families who want a close-knit village school with a clear Anglican identity, and who value consistent routines and responsibility in a small peer group. The main question to test during a visit is how confidently the current leadership team can demonstrate tightened oversight and reliable systems, given that leadership and management was the one area graded below Good in the most recent inspection.
The most recent inspection in July 2025 judged quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and personal development as Good. Leadership and management was graded Requires Improvement, which suggests strong day-to-day practice with systems and oversight still improving.
Admissions are coordinated by Worcestershire County Council. Catchment and priority rules are set by the local authority and oversubscription criteria apply if applications exceed places. Families should check the council’s current admissions guidance for the specific priority order and any relevant faith or sibling criteria.
Wraparound care is referenced in school policy documents as available before and after school, booked in advance and charged to parents. The best next step is to confirm current times, costs, and availability directly with the school, as the published wraparound page is not currently accessible.
The school notes that some pupils transfer at the end of Year 5 to middle school, while others transfer at the end of Year 6 to secondary schools including Chipping Campden School and Stratford High School. Parents should ask which destinations are most common in the latest year, as patterns can shift in small cohorts.
The school states that collective worship should be distinctly Christian and reflect Anglican traditions, and pupils can take on leadership roles in worship through the Worship Crew. This is likely to feel more explicit than in many community primaries.
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