Bushmead Primary School
Bushmead Road, Eaton Socon, St Neots, PE19 8BT
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Steve Down
- Constituency
- St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 380
- URN
- 132031
- Local authority
- Cambridgeshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01480375375
About this school
Bushmead Primary School is a community primary school in St Neots. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 380 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Bushmead 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 52 | 55 | 59 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 60% | 65% | 63% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| Expected standard in reading | 73% | 76% | 71% |
| Expected standard in maths | 73% | 78% | 75% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 63% | 58% | 73% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 105.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 104.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | +0.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -2.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +0.30 | - | - |
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 Bushmead 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 | Cambridgeshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 60% | 56.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 65% | 55.7% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 63% | 57.4% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 362 |
| 2023/24 | 378 |
| 2024/25 | 380 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bushmead Primary School compares
Bushmead Primary School ranked 90th of 195 primary schools in Cambridgeshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 47% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 38% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 63% | 6.1% | 26.6% | 380 | — |
| Crosshall Infant School | — | 4.6% | 8.5% | 287 | 1.1 miles |
| Crosshall Junior School | 75% | 3% | 16.7% | 346 | 1.1 miles |
| Eynesbury CofE C Primary School | 48% | 4.8% | 19.2% | 209 | 1.2 miles |
| Middlefield Primary Academy | 61% | 4.2% | 12.6% | 200 | 1.4 miles |
| Winhills Primary Academy | 59% | 5.8% | 45.2% | 227 | 1.6 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)
- 26.58%
- English as an additional language
- 7.4%
- Overall absence
- 6.06%
- Persistent absence
- 16.47%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Crosshall Infant School1.1 miles
Primary · St Neots
-
Crosshall Junior School1.1 miles
Primary · St Neots
-
Eynesbury CofE C Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · St Neots
-
Middlefield Primary Academy1.4 miles
Primary · St Neots
-
Winhills Primary Academy1.6 miles
Primary · St Neots
Other schools in St Neots
Bushmead Primary School ranks 5th of the 12 ranked primary schools in St Neots.
- Buckden CofE Primary School Primary
- Crosshall Infant School Primary
- Crosshall Junior School Primary
- Eynesbury CofE C Primary School Primary
- Great Paxton CofE Primary School Primary
- Great Staughton Primary Academy Primary
- Middlefield Primary Academy Primary
- Offord Primary School Primary
- Priory Junior School Primary
- Priory Park Infant School & Pre-School Primary
- St Mary's Church of England Primary School St Neots Primary
- The Newton Community Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Bushmead Primary School teach?
- Bushmead Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in St Neots.
- Who is the headteacher of Bushmead Primary School?
- The headteacher of Bushmead Primary School is Mr Steve Down, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Bushmead Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bushmead 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 Bushmead Primary School?
- Bushmead Primary School has 380 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Bushmead Primary School full?
- Bushmead Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 380 on roll (90%), 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 Bushmead Primary School a faith school?
- No. Bushmead Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Bushmead Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Bushmead Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Bushmead 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 63% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bushmead Primary School compare with other schools in Cambridgeshire?
- Bushmead Primary School ranked 90th of 195 primary schools in Cambridgeshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 47% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 38% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bushmead Primary School's absence rate?
- Bushmead Primary School's overall absence rate is 6.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bushmead Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bushmead 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 30 June 2026.