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St Finian's Catholic Primary School

Primary · Thatcham · RG18 9HU

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Expected standard

Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)

The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.

Safeguarding: MetCurriculum & teaching: Expected standardAchievement: Expected standardAttendance & behaviour: Expected standardPersonal development: Strong standardInclusion: Strong standardLeadership & governance: Expected standardEarly years: Expected standardPost-16: Not applicable

Inspected 19 May 2026 · report published 17 June 2026

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

204 pupils · 94% of 218 capacity

School type
Voluntary aided school
Age range
4–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Free school meals
2.9% of pupils
English as additional language
9.2% of pupils
SEN support
13.6% of pupils
EHC plan
4.4% of pupils
Website
http://www.stfiniansprimary.co.uk
URN
110037

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

1.03 first-choice applications per place

29 places offered · 30 first-choice applications · oversubscribed

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 1.656 miles

measurement method not stated by the council.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

31 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
71%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
6%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
107
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
105
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school71%
Median of its 12 closest peers69.5%
West Berkshire average57.3%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedResult
Escrick Church of England Primary SchoolYork · 170 miles awayGood78%
Our Lady of Hartley Catholic Primary School, Hartley, LongfieldLongfield · 67 miles awayOutstanding75%
Busbridge CofE Aided Junior SchoolGodalming · 33 miles awayGood80%
Dr Radcliffe's Church of England Primary SchoolBicester · 35 miles awayGood83%
Clayton-le-Woods Church of England Primary SchoolChorley · 168 miles awayGood42%
St John's Primary SchoolWallingford · 13 miles awayGood57%
Belgrave Primary SchoolChester · 139 miles awayGood87%
Winkfield St Mary's CofE Primary SchoolBracknell · 24 miles awayGood (2019)70%
King's Stanley CofE Primary SchoolStonehouse · 48 miles awayGood69%
Andrews' Endowed Church of England Primary SchoolAlton · 22 miles awayGood64%
Bromley Heath Junior SchoolBristol · 54 miles awayGood62%
Newton Longville Church of England Primary SchoolNewton Longville · 43 miles awayGood69%

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
2.7%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
5.1%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
23.7
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

90% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 10% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£5,680
Typical primary school£6,959

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
10/10among the least deprived tenth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher39%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications11.6%18.1%
In managerial or professional work43.5%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways8.3%18.1%
Residents in very good health51.7%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier83.4%62.3%
Social housing8.9%17.1%
Privately rented7.8%20.5%
Detached houses49.7%22.9%
Flats0.6%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms44.2%21.1%
Households with no car or van6.2%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01016284 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,146 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£683,00033 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£450,000–£1,100,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (24)£887,000
Semi-detached (5)£426,000

Homes around this school are among the dearest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
0an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
0an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
1an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
0an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools