St Pauls CofE VA Primary School

Cambridge · CB2 1HJ

General information Primary School · 4-11 years Who goes here 152 pupils, 19.1% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 17.1% on SEN support Behaviour 5.9% absence rate Staff 21.6% turnover Financials £7,539 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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St Pauls CofE VA Primary School

General Information

Address: Coronation Street, Cambridge, CB2 1HJ – View on map
Phone: 01223568840
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Helen Darrell
Age range: 4-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 6 families put it first for 13 places – 5 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 5 · 2024 8 · 2025 8 · 2026 5
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Church of England
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

152 pupils out of 210 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 29
% eligible for free school meals: 19.1%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (similar to the Cambridge average)
English as an additional language: 29% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 21.6% a year (Cambridge 18.2%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 48% moved to another school, 52% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Cambridgeshire: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 7 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 9 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 3 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state primary schools in Cambridgeshire (the council area this school is in), not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 5.9%
Persistently absent pupils: 16.3%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 17.1%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.0%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 8 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 6 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 5 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 2 pupils
Multi-sensory impairment: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card January 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Achievement Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
Early years Expected standard
Leadership and governance Expected standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 38% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 3% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 26 percentage points below the Cambridge average (64%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (3-year average 50% against an expected 67%)
3-year average (expected standard): 50%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 83% · Writing 45% · Maths 62% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 76%
Average test scores: reading 106, maths 103
Based on: 29 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

SATs results over time

This schoolCambridge averageEngland↘ Falling Down 12 percentage points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 26 percentage points below the Cambridge average (64%).

Year 6 SATs: 25th of 27 junior and primary schools in the area

#23Shirley Community Primary School43%
#24Chesterton Primary School42%
#25St Pauls CofE VA Primary School38%
#26The Galfrid School35%
#27St Philip's CofE Aided Primary School26%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

#1Bewick Bridge Community Primary School90%
#2St Alban's Catholic Primary School83%
#3Newnham Croft Primary School81%
#4Ridgefield Primary School80%
=5Kings Hedges Primary School79%
=5St Luke's CofE Primary School79%
#7St Matthew's Primary School76%
#8Milton Road Primary School74%
#9Park Street CofE Primary School72%
=10Queen Emma Primary School71%
=10University of Cambridge Primary School71%
#12Trumpington Park Primary School70%
#13The Spinney Primary School69%
#14Arbury Primary School66%
#15St Laurence Catholic Primary School63%
=16Colville Primary School62%
=16Fawcett Primary School62%
#18Mayfield Primary School58%
#19Queen Edith Primary School57%
#20The Grove Primary School56%
#21Morley Memorial Primary School53%
#22Cherry Hinton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School52%
#23Shirley Community Primary School43%
#24Chesterton Primary School42%
#25St Pauls CofE VA Primary School38%
#26The Galfrid School35%
#27St Philip's CofE Aided Primary School26%

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £7,539 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

8th of 27 primary schools in Cambridge for spending per pupil

#6Colville Primary School£7,775
#7Park Street CofE Primary School£7,699
#8St Pauls CofE VA Primary School£7,539
#9Cherry Hinton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School£7,485
#10St Luke's CofE Primary School£7,447

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1The Galfrid School£9,194
#2St Philip's CofE Aided Primary School£8,799
#3Shirley Community Primary School£8,754
#4The Grove Primary School£8,512
#5St Laurence Catholic Primary School£8,410
#6Colville Primary School£7,775
#7Park Street CofE Primary School£7,699
#8St Pauls CofE VA Primary School£7,539
#9Cherry Hinton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School£7,485
#10St Luke's CofE Primary School£7,447
#11Kings Hedges Primary School£7,314
#12Chesterton Primary School£7,150
#13Queen Emma Primary School£7,079
#14Mayfield Primary School£6,935
#15Bewick Bridge Community Primary School£6,843
#16Ridgefield Primary School£6,843
#17Fawcett Primary School£6,842
#18Morley Memorial Primary School£6,776
#19Arbury Primary School£6,627
#20The Spinney Primary School£6,550
#21University of Cambridge Primary School£6,529
#22Queen Edith Primary School£6,409
#23St Matthew's Primary School£6,227
#24Newnham Croft Primary School£6,213
#25Trumpington Park Primary School£6,146
#26Milton Road Primary School£5,920
#27St Alban's Catholic Primary School£5,374

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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