Maranatha Christian School Review 2026: Small all-through Christian education near Swindon

A genuinely small all-through setting, serving children from nursery age through to older teens, with a clear Christian ethos and a rural Wiltshire backdrop. Official information places the school near Swindon and adjacent to a working farm, which shapes both the feel and the practicalities for families, particularly around transport and outdoor learning.

Leadership is front and centre in the school’s identity. The school lists David Robinson as Head Teacher, with his appointment stated as beginning in 2025. Alongside that, the website identifies a structured team for primary and secondary phases, including a dedicated safeguarding lead and a head of secondary who joined in September 2024.

For parents, the headline trade-off is simple. This is a values-led, low-numbers environment with individualised learning built into the model; it is not a large campus with an expansive subject menu and broad peer group options in every year. That difference can be exactly what some families are seeking.

The school’s public materials are direct about purpose. Admissions are designed for Christian families who want a faith-shaped education; the admissions policy sets clear expectations, including parental commitment and, for older students, a student commitment. This makes the culture more defined than in many independent day schools, because families are selecting in for ethos as much as for academics.

Scale matters here. The most recent published inspection report (2023) records 73 pupils at the time, and the school’s own prospectus describes a roll in the region of the mid-80s, with capacity information elsewhere indicating a small overall size. In practice, that usually means mixed-age familiarity across the community, fast staff recognition of pastoral issues, and fewer “anonymous corridors” moments. It can also mean that friendship groups and class dynamics carry more weight, because there are fewer parallel forms to rebalance social groupings.

The all-through structure supports continuity. Children can move from early years into primary and then into secondary without a change of site or ethos. The early years unit, branded as Little Lambs, is presented as a dedicated space with a garden outlook and an emphasis on play, language, early literacy and early mathematics within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. For families considering a longer journey, that continuity is often part of the value proposition, because it reduces transition disruption.

Performance information for this school needs careful reading because different data sources reflect different lenses.

The school publishes its own summary of public exam outcomes across multiple years, describing overall pass rates and the proportion of grades at higher thresholds. For example, it reports a pass rate for all exams of 80% in 2025, and 68% in 2024, with a smaller percentage achieving grades 7–9 in those years. As with any small cohort, year-to-year swings can be pronounced, so parents are usually best served by looking for the multi-year pattern rather than reading a single year as destiny.

FindMySchool’s proprietary outcomes ranking for post-16 places the sixth form outcomes at 2,586th in England (with a local rank of 8 for the area used in that dataset), which sits below England average in relative terms. This is based on official data as processed within FindMySchool rankings methodology. Because very small sixth forms can generate volatile outcome signals, families should treat the ranking as one input alongside the school’s curriculum approach, staffing stability, and the fit between the learner and the school’s model.

For primary and GCSE measures, the available ranking and metric fields are not populated provided for this review, so the school-published results summary becomes the main quantitative indicator available in the public domain here.

Parents comparing local options should use the FindMySchool Local Hub page and Comparison Tool to view nearby schools side-by-side, particularly if weighing a small independent against larger state secondaries.

The school describes a blended teaching model, combining direct instruction, individualised self-learning, and practical, hands-on teaching, with online support where appropriate. The 2023 inspection report reinforces that the curriculum is mainly based on Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), with additional elements drawn from the National Curriculum, and that pupils follow a personalised programme of study.

In primary, the website states that learning is planned to meet national curriculum standards and delivered through termly topics, with specific schemes used for mathematics and science (White Rose), and English taught through storybooks to support reading and writing development. The implication for families is a relatively structured academic spine, with the flexibility to pace and support individuals, which can suit children who benefit from clear routines and regular checking for understanding.

In Key Stage 3, subject breadth is explicit. The school lists taught lessons including English, mathematics, science, art, drama, geography, history, religious studies, physical education, careers and personal development education, plus design projects and a dedicated strand titled Forest School/Bushcraft. That last element is a meaningful differentiator. Outdoor skills and practical learning are not an add-on for a single activity week; they are positioned as part of the taught programme.

At GCSE level, the school lists a core set including English language and literature, separate sciences, mathematics, religious studies, art, drama and physical education, with additional optional subjects available via an online platform for families who choose that route. For students, this creates a clear academic path with the possibility of extending the offer through online study, though families should be realistic about workload, self-management and the difference between taught classroom learning and remote provision.

For younger children, the “next step” question is largely internal. The early years unit is presented as a foundation into school life, and the all-through structure supports progression into Reception and onward through primary.

From Year 6 into secondary, the benefit is continuity of ethos and routines, plus the chance to build subject-specialist teaching gradually. The curriculum published for Key Stage 3 suggests a broad base aimed at preparing students for GCSE choices, including humanities, creative subjects and physical education.

For older students, the public materials emphasise GCSE and IGCSE routes rather than publishing detailed university destination statistics. The prospectus describes IGCSE provision in partnership with Cambridge Assessment International Education, and references a move towards IGCSEs as the preferred pathway at Key Stage 4. Where destinations are not published, the best proxy questions for families are practical: which post-16 routes are offered on site in the current year, what the typical class sizes are in those courses, and how the school supports applications to sixth form colleges, apprenticeships, or employment pathways where relevant.

The available DfE leaver destination information is extremely limited for this provider, reflecting a very small cohort, so families should expect that post-16 and post-18 destination patterns may not be stable year to year.

Admissions are direct to the school rather than through local authority coordinated processes. The admissions policy sets out a faith-based entry framework. At least one parent or guardian must satisfy trustees of a clear personal Christian testimony aligned to the school’s statement of faith, and parents are expected to sign a parental commitment form. Students above the age of 12 are asked to sign a student commitment form.

The process is deliberately relational rather than purely administrative. Parent and student interviews form a central stage, with the policy stating that the initial interview is conducted by the headteacher, with the option of a trustee interview where needed. For families, the implication is that readiness is assessed in both directions: the school is checking alignment, and parents have structured time to test whether the school’s approach matches their child’s needs.

Testing is used diagnostically rather than as a selective “pass mark” mechanism. The admissions policy states that students aged 7 to 13 undertake diagnostic tests during the enrolment process, and it also describes conditional admission, including probationary periods where circumstances require it.

For 2026 entry, the most specific published date located in the school’s events calendar is an Open Day scheduled for 16 May 2026. Beyond that, the school’s admissions page emphasises booking a visit and arranging an interview, without publishing a single annual deadline cycle. In practice, families should assume that places are managed on availability and fit, and should begin conversations early if they have a specific start term in mind.

Parents considering this route should use the FindMySchool Saved Schools feature to manage a shortlist, and to keep admissions tasks aligned across multiple schools with different processes.

Safeguarding and culture are treated as core operational priorities in the school’s published materials. The safeguarding page positions partnership with external agencies as part of the safeguarding approach when concerns arise, which is consistent with standard expectations in England.

Within the leadership structure, the school identifies a designated safeguarding lead in its leadership team listing. It also publishes a parent safeguarding survey result for 2024 stating that all respondents said their child is safe and happy at school, which, while not a substitute for external regulation, does signal an intent to measure and report family confidence.

Pastoral experience in a school of this size is usually shaped by closeness. Staff know pupils across key stages, and issues can surface quickly because the community is tight. The flip side is that small schools require clear boundaries and consistent routines so that familiarity does not blur expectations. Policies published on the website indicate that the school maintains formal frameworks for behaviour, attendance, complaints, online safety and safeguarding.

Extracurricular breadth in a small all-through school is rarely about volume; it is about the particular strands that are embedded into the weekly rhythm.

Outdoor learning is one of those strands here. Forest School/Bushcraft appears within the taught Key Stage 3 programme list, which suggests an approach that treats outdoor skills and resilience as educational, not merely recreational. For students who learn well through practical tasks and real-world contexts, this can be a meaningful engagement lever.

Creative and performance elements also feature as discrete taught areas, with drama listed in Key Stage 3 and GCSE curricula, and music positioned through music and worship sessions. That matters because faith-based schools can sometimes lean heavily towards the academic and pastoral; explicit creative curriculum time signals that expressive education is part of the school’s model.

In primary, topic-based learning across history, geography and art and design is stated as the main structure, with reading and writing supported through storybooks and regular assessment in mathematics. The implication for pupils is variety across the week, which often helps maintain motivation in small cohorts.

Community partnerships appear to be built incrementally. One example published is a partnership with Micro Scooters, including donated scooters and safety accessories, framed around daily activity and safety. That is not a “headline” partnership in the way a large senior school might tout a university link; it is a practical, child-centred addition that fits a small-school model.

Fees are published for September 2025 to August 2026, and are inclusive of VAT at 20%. The school publishes fees by phase (primary, and secondary Years 7 to 11) and by payment approach.

For standard day fees, the published annual figures are £7,720 for primary (Reception to Year 6) and £8,365 for secondary (Years 7 to 11) for the first child, with a reduced rate of £6,560 for a second and subsequent child. The same document also publishes higher “no deposit held” figures for families whose fees are paid by a government sponsor and where a deposit is not possible, including £8,490 (primary) and £9,200 (secondary) for the first child.

A refundable deposit of £1,500 is stated as payable before a student starts, refundable when the student leaves after the final invoice is paid. The school also sets a “family commitment” expectation, requiring families to contribute time to school life, with an additional fee of £360 per term where parents are unable to meet that commitment.

On financial support, the school has a bursary fund page inviting donations to support access, and the admissions policy states that bursary support may be granted in support of an application. The school does not publish a bursary percentage or typical award size in the sources reviewed, so families should ask what criteria are used, how decisions are made, and how bursary support interacts with the family commitment model.

Nursery and early years costs are not quoted here. Families should refer to the school’s official fee information for early years pricing and funded hours.

The setting is rural, near Swindon, and official descriptions place the school next to a working farm. For most families, that typically means the school run is car-led, with walking catchments less relevant than they would be for a town-centre school. The prospectus includes driving directions and refers to on-site parking, which is a useful indicator for daily logistics.

Published information on daily start and finish times, and on wraparound care (breakfast and after-school provision), is not clearly set out in the sources reviewed for this report. Families who rely on wraparound should ask specifically about hours, availability by age group, and whether provision runs every day or only on selected days.

• Faith alignment is a real admissions criterion. Entry is framed for Christian families, including a requirement that at least one parent provides a clear Christian testimony aligned to the school’s statement of faith, and commitment forms are part of the process.

• Small cohorts amplify both benefits and friction. The community feel can be strong, but friendship dynamics and subject breadth can be more constrained than in larger schools. The inspection report’s recorded roll size underscores how small the setting is.

• Family participation is built into the cost model. Families are expected to contribute time to school life, with a published additional charge of £360 per term where that contribution is not possible.

• Post-16 signals are harder to read. Public destination statistics are not clearly published, and the FindMySchool sixth form ranking sits below England average in relative terms, which is often affected by cohort size and provision mix in very small settings.

Maranatha Christian School is best understood as a deliberately small, faith-centred all-through school, with a personalised learning model and clear behavioural and safeguarding frameworks. Its strengths are clarity of ethos, continuity across ages, and a curriculum that blends structured academics with practical elements such as Forest School/Bushcraft.

It suits families who want a Christian educational framework, value close relationships and individual pacing, and are comfortable engaging actively with school life. For families seeking a large peer group, extensive subject choice at every stage, or a highly standardised post-16 track record expressed through published destination data, it may be less straightforward.