Great Bardfield Primary School
Braintree Road, Great Bardfield, Braintree, CM7 4RN
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Liz Crow
- Constituency
- Braintree
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 180
- Pupils on roll
- 117
- URN
- 114835
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01371810252
About this school
Great Bardfield Primary School is a community primary school in Braintree. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 117 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Great Bardfield Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 21 | 14 | 20 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 62% | 79% | 45% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 7% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 76% | 86% | 70% |
| Expected standard in maths | 67% | 86% | 70% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 81% | 93% | 75% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 108.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 105.0 | 109.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.10 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Great Bardfield Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Essex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 62% | 58.9% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 79% | 59.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 45% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 119 |
| 2023/24 | 127 |
| 2024/25 | 124 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Great Bardfield Primary School compares
Great Bardfield Primary School ranked 348th of 388 primary schools in Essex for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 74% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45% | 4.5% | 21% | 117 | — |
| Finchingfield St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy | — | 5.7% | 9.8% | 71 | 1.5 miles |
| Wethersfield CofE VC Primary School | 88% | 4.9% | 10.9% | 44 | 2.0 miles |
| Shalford Primary School | 87% | 4.9% | 22.7% | 73 | 3.2 miles |
| Great Sampford Community Primary School | 75% | 4.1% | 5.8% | 79 | 3.7 miles |
| Stebbing Primary School | 62% | 5.5% | 15.2% | 200 | 3.9 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 20.97%
- English as an additional language
- 2.4%
- Overall absence
- 4.48%
- Persistent absence
- 7.27%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Finchingfield St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy1.5 miles
Primary · Braintree
-
Wethersfield CofE VC Primary School2.0 miles
Primary · Braintree
-
Shalford Primary School3.2 miles
Primary · Braintree
-
Great Sampford Community Primary School3.7 miles
Primary · Saffron Walden
-
Stebbing Primary School3.9 miles
Primary · Dunmow
Other schools in Braintree
Great Bardfield Primary School ranks 16th of the 16 ranked primary schools in Braintree.
- Beckers Green Primary School Primary
- Bocking Primary School Primary
- Cressing Primary School Primary
- Finchingfield St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Great Bradfords Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Great Bradfords Junior School Primary
- John Bunyan Primary School and Nursery Primary
- John Ray Infant School Primary
- John Ray Junior School Primary
- Lyons Hall School Primary
- Notley Green Primary School Primary
- Rayne Primary and Nursery School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Great Bardfield Primary School teach?
- Great Bardfield Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Braintree.
- Who is the headteacher of Great Bardfield Primary School?
- The headteacher of Great Bardfield Primary School is Mrs Liz Crow, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Great Bardfield Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Great Bardfield Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Great Bardfield Primary School?
- Great Bardfield Primary School has 117 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Great Bardfield Primary School full?
- Great Bardfield Primary School has capacity for 180 pupils and 117 on roll (65%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Great Bardfield Primary School a faith school?
- No. Great Bardfield Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Great Bardfield Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Great Bardfield Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Great Bardfield Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 62% in 2022/23 and 45% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Great Bardfield Primary School compare with other schools in Essex?
- Great Bardfield Primary School ranked 348th of 388 primary schools in Essex for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 74% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Great Bardfield Primary School's absence rate?
- Great Bardfield Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.5% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Great Bardfield Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Great Bardfield Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 15 July 2026.