St Martin's CofE Primary School

This is a one-form entry Church of England primary serving families around Harnham and Salisbury city centre, with a clear focus on steady routines and raising expectations. Leadership has been in flux in recent years, but the current team is set up explicitly for improvement, including an Executive Headteacher and a Head of School.

The school’s most recent graded inspection (January 2023) judged it Inadequate and placed it in special measures, with major concerns centred on curriculum design, early reading, and leadership oversight. A monitoring inspection in late November 2023 recognised progress in key building blocks, particularly early reading resourcing and stronger attendance systems, while also making clear that further work was still needed.

For parents, the core question is trajectory. The evidence points to a school where children feel safe and relationships are positive, but where academic consistency must be proven over time through sustained improvement.

The strongest, most consistent thread across official evidence is that pupils generally like school, feel safe, and relate well to adults. That matters in a primary, because trust underpins learning, behaviour, and attendance.

The culture is also shaped by its Christian character. Collective worship forms part of the weekly rhythm, and the school describes it as Christian in nature, with regular focus on specific Christian values. This is not usually an exclusionary feature for most local families, but it does mean that assemblies, language around values, and links with clergy are likely to be part of everyday life.

The school also positions itself as diverse, and describes celebrating many nationalities, religions, and cultures. For families who value a mixed community and exposure to different backgrounds, that is a meaningful part of the offer, particularly in a city where not every local primary has that character.

The current Key Stage 2 picture is now available. In the 2024-25 / 2025 dataset, 50% met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, with maths stronger at 90% and reading at 70%. FindMySchool places the school 12,194th out of 14,978 for primary academic outcomes, with an overall rank of 14,904th and a Salisbury local rank of 43rd.

Instead, the best evidence to use is the quality of education narrative in the latest graded inspection and the subsequent monitoring visit, because these speak directly to what teaching and learning looked like at that point, and what leaders were doing to improve it.

The January 2023 inspection described a curriculum that was not sequenced well enough, with pupils developing gaps in knowledge across subjects, and weaknesses in assessment practice that meant misconceptions persisted. Early reading was a central concern, with too many children not receiving well matched books and insufficient support to catch up.

The November 2023 monitoring visit indicated that leaders had started the work of putting a broader, more ambitious curriculum in place, and had raised expectations for early reading, including improved resources and initial staff development. The key point, though, was that changes were still too new to show full impact at that stage.

The school publishes a clear structure for the day that helps parents understand how learning time is used. Gates open at 8:40am, the register closes at 8:50am, and the day runs through phonics or reading, English, maths, and afternoon curriculum subjects, with collective worship before home time at 3:10pm.

In early reading, the school states it uses Essential Letters and Sounds for phonics in Early Years and Year 1, with Year 2 included where appropriate. That kind of scheme based approach is often used to bring consistency, especially when a school is tightening practice after a period of weaker outcomes.

In maths, the published approach leans on fluency first, with regular opportunities for problem solving. Again, what matters for parents is consistency across classes, and whether assessment is used sharply enough to pick up gaps early, because that was a specific weakness in the inspection evidence.

For pupils with SEND, the inspection evidence pointed to historically low expectations and support plans that lacked precision. The monitoring visit then described work beginning to identify needs and starting points more accurately, involving parents and using external expertise where required.

As a Salisbury primary, pupils will typically move on to local secondary schools in the city and surrounding area. The best next step for families is to align likely options with your home address and Wiltshire’s admissions criteria, because transition patterns can vary year to year depending on cohort demand.

What the school does explicitly set out is how it inducts new children into Reception. Children usually move to full time by the third week, and the summer term is used for taster sessions including stay and play, lunch, and story time in the library. Early Years staff also visit children in their pre school settings, and the school may offer home visits as part of induction.

Admissions are coordinated through the local authority for Reception entry, and the school notes that applications are typically due by mid January for a September start. Wiltshire’s published 2027-entry timetable opens applications on 1 September 2026, sets the deadline as 15 January 2027, and gives 16 April 2027 as primary offer day.

The school states a maximum capacity of 210 pupils and up to 30 places in Reception each year, with oversubscription handled through published criteria.

Admissions demand can vary by year, so families should treat the Reception process as something to manage carefully rather than a certainty. The practical dates for the next Reception cycle are the 15 January 2027 deadline and 16 April 2027 offer day.

In-year admissions are possible if places exist, with applications made via Wiltshire.

Parents who are shortlisting should use the FindMySchool Map Search to sense check practical distance and routes to school, then confirm criteria and deadlines through Wiltshire before relying on a place.

Wellbeing is a mixed picture in the evidence, in a way that is quite typical of schools in improvement. Pupils were described as feeling safe and supported by adults, and the school’s safeguarding arrangements were found to be effective at the time of the graded inspection.

The inspection also linked some low level disruption to work not being pitched well enough, which is an important nuance for parents. In primary schools, behaviour is often as much about lesson design and routines as it is about sanctions.

Attendance was flagged as a longstanding weakness in the graded inspection. The monitoring visit later described effective systems being put in place to improve attendance, with governors maintaining oversight and challenge around persistent absence.

The school describes a termly club offer that can include cookery and chess, alongside practical and creative options.

The personal development programme is presented with concrete examples rather than generic claims. Items referenced include Dogs Trust safety visits, museum linked workshops, themed PSHE days such as Safer Internet Day, and targeted support such as a Coping Cats workshop for Year 5 delivered via the local mental health support team.

There is also evidence of pupil leadership in the inspection report, including older pupils acting as Young Leaders to support play at social times. For parents of quieter children, that kind of structured peer role can make break times feel safer and more inclusive.

The published day structure is unusually detailed for a primary, and helpful for working families. Gates open at 8:40am, the register closes at 8:50am, and home time is 3:10pm.

The school indicates breakfast club and after school club exist, but the wraparound page itself is light on specifics, so families should confirm session patterns directly with the school.

Term dates are aligned to Wiltshire’s calendar, with additional staff development closure days listed on the school site.

• An Inadequate judgement with special measures is a serious signal. The latest graded inspection (January 2023) identified deep weaknesses in curriculum, early reading, assessment, and governance oversight. A monitoring visit in late 2023 described early progress, but also confirmed more work was still needed.

• Improvement work may look different across classes while systems bed in. When a school is rebuilding curriculum sequencing and tightening assessment, consistency can take time, particularly in foundation subjects and early reading.

• Admissions still need active planning, even with a relatively small cohort. If you are planning a Reception place, work from Wiltshire’s 2027-entry timetable and treat the application as a process to manage rather than a certainty.

• Christian worship and values are part of the school’s day. For many families this will feel normal and welcoming, but those wanting a fully secular experience should consider fit carefully.

St Martin’s is a school in the middle of a clear improvement programme: relationships and safeguarding are strengths in the evidence, while curriculum quality, early reading, and leadership impact are the areas that must be proven over time.

It suits families who want a small Salisbury primary with a Christian character, who value a diverse community, and who will actively engage with the school about progress, expectations, and support. The limiting factor is confidence in trajectory, and parents should use visits and up to date monitoring information to judge how far improvement has embedded since the last published evidence.