Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Church Road, Ramsden Heath, Billericay, CM11 1NU
This school is closed (it closed in December 2025).
It was replaced by Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary controlled school
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Headteacher
- Mrs Theresa Walker Miss Johanna Bailey
- Diocese
- Diocese of Chelmsford
- Constituency
- Maldon
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 191
- URN
- 115119
- Local authority
- Essex
About this school
Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School was a Church of England voluntary controlled primary school in Billericay. It taught children aged 5 to 11 and had 191 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School has not been inspected by Ofsted yet.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 40 | 30 | 26 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 60% | 70% | 65% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 13% | 23% |
| Expected standard in reading | 80% | 83% | 73% |
| Expected standard in maths | 83% | 93% | 69% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 83% | 90% | 77% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 106.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 106.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | +0.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -4.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +1.00 | - | - |
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 Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled 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 | 60% | 58.9% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 70% | 59.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 65% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 219 |
| 2023/24 | 194 |
| 2024/25 | 191 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School compares
Its KS2 result was higher than 53% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 45% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 65% | 5.6% | 7.9% | 191 | — |
| Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | — | — | — | 173 | 0.0 miles |
| Crays Hill Primary School | 17% | 37.3% | 93.3% | 82 | 1.8 miles |
| Sunnymede Primary School | 69% | 3.8% | 11.6% | 389 | 1.9 miles |
| St Peter's Catholic Primary School | 96% | 3.4% | 5.8% | 419 | 2.2 miles |
| Runwell Community Primary School | 53% | 5.3% | 20.9% | 362 | 2.2 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 7.85%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 5.62%
- Persistent absence
- 12.5%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School0.0 miles
Primary · Billericay
-
Crays Hill Primary School1.8 miles
Primary · Billericay
-
Sunnymede Primary School1.9 miles
Primary · Billericay
-
St Peter's Catholic Primary School2.2 miles
Primary · Billericay
-
Runwell Community Primary School2.2 miles
Primary · Wickford
Other schools in Billericay
- Brightside Primary School Primary
- Buttsbury Primary School Primary
- Crays Hill Primary School Primary
- Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Quilters Infant School Primary
- Quilters Junior School Primary
- South Green Infant School Primary
- South Green Junior School Primary
- St Peter's Catholic Primary School Primary
- Sunnymede Primary School Primary
- Mayflower High School Secondary
- The Billericay School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School teach?
- Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School taught children aged 5 to 11. It was a primary school in Billericay.
- Has Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How big is Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School?
- Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School had 191 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 11.
- How have Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 60% in 2022/23 and 65% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled 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 24 March 2026.