The Elms Primary School
The Elms, Gloucester Street, Faringdon, SN7 7HZ
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- CAMBRIAN LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Joseph Rubba
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Faringdon Academy of Schools
- Constituency
- Witney
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 251
- URN
- 138009
- Local authority
- Oxfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01367240232
About this school
The Elms Primary School is a primary academy in Faringdon. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 251 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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 | 88 | 90 | 90 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 63% | 50% | 61% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 9% | 11% | 8% |
| Expected standard in reading | 72% | 63% | 76% |
| Expected standard in maths | 78% | 60% | 76% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 78% | 73% | 73% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 102.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.40 | - | - |
| 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 The Elms 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 | Oxfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 63% | 58.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 50% | 59.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 61% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 428 |
| 2023/24 | 373 |
| 2024/25 | 304 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Elms Primary School compares
The Elms Primary School ranked 131st of 228 primary schools in Oxfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 43% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 61% | 5.1% | 21.7% | 251 | — |
| Folly View Primary | — | 5.9% | 23.1% | 401 | 0.7 miles |
| Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School | 47% | 2.6% | 8.3% | 85 | 2.4 miles |
| Longcot and Fernham Church of England Primary School | 72% | 4.6% | 5.6% | 133 | 3.0 miles |
| Clanfield CofE Primary School | 44% | 4.9% | 9% | 97 | 3.8 miles |
| Buckland Church of England Primary School | 93% | 4.5% | 1.9% | 111 | 3.8 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)
- 21.68%
- English as an additional language
- 7.6%
- Overall absence
- 5.13%
- Persistent absence
- 16.79%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Folly View Primary0.7 miles
Primary · Faringdon
-
Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School2.4 miles
Primary · Faringdon
-
Longcot and Fernham Church of England Primary School3.0 miles
Primary · Faringdon
-
Clanfield CofE Primary School3.8 miles
Primary · Bampton
-
Buckland Church of England Primary School3.8 miles
Primary · Faringdon
Other schools in Faringdon
The Elms Primary School ranks 4th of the 6 ranked primary schools in Faringdon.
- Buckland Church of England Primary School Primary
- Folly View Primary Primary
- Longcot and Fernham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Shellingford Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School Primary
- Stanford In the Vale CofE Primary School Primary
- Uffington Church of England Primary School Primary
- Faringdon Community College Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Elms Primary School teach?
- The Elms Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Faringdon.
- Who is the headteacher of The Elms Primary School?
- The headteacher of The Elms Primary School is Mr Joseph Rubba, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Elms Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Elms 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 big is The Elms Primary School?
- The Elms Primary School has 251 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is The Elms Primary School full?
- The Elms Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 251 on roll (60%), 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 The Elms Primary School a faith school?
- No. The Elms Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does The Elms Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records The Elms Primary School as having nursery classes.
- Who runs The Elms Primary School?
- The Elms Primary School is part of CAMBRIAN LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Elms Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 63% in 2022/23 and 61% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Elms Primary School rank locally?
- The Elms Primary School ranked 131st of 228 primary schools in Oxfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 43% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Elms Primary School's absence rate?
- The Elms Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Elms Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Elms 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 1 July 2026.