New Town Primary School
School Terrace, Reading, RG1 3LS
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- OXFORD DIOCESAN SCHOOLS TRUST
- Headteacher
- Miss Polly Cornish
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Diocese of Oxford
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Reading Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 410
- URN
- 142682
- Local authority
- Reading
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01189375509
About this school
New Town Primary School is a primary academy in Reading. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 410 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected New Town 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 | 43 | 54 | 49 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 47% | 57% | 61% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 4% | 10% |
| Expected standard in reading | 67% | 72% | 69% |
| Expected standard in maths | 65% | 70% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 72% | 72% | 80% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.50 | - | - |
| 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 New Town 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 | Reading average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 47% | 55.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 57% | 57.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 61% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 423 |
| 2023/24 | 423 |
| 2024/25 | 415 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How New Town Primary School compares
New Town Primary School ranked 24th of 37 primary schools in Reading 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 43% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 61% | 5.7% | 20.4% | 410 | — |
| St John's Church of England Primary School | 58% | 5.1% | 20.7% | 454 | 0.2 miles |
| Redlands Primary School | 50% | 5.1% | 16.2% | 196 | 0.7 miles |
| Alfred Sutton Primary School | 83% | 6.3% | 18.8% | 664 | 0.8 miles |
| St Anne's Catholic Primary School | 63% | 4% | 25.7% | 165 | 1.0 miles |
| Thameside Primary School | 49% | 6% | 20.4% | 322 | 1.1 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)
- 20.42%
- English as an additional language
- 64.1%
- Overall absence
- 5.72%
- Persistent absence
- 17.69%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St John's Church of England Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Reading
-
Redlands Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Reading
-
Alfred Sutton Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Reading
-
St Anne's Catholic Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Reading
-
Thameside Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Reading
Other schools in Reading
New Town Primary School ranks 52nd of the 82 ranked primary schools in Reading.
- Aldermaston C.E. Primary School Primary
- Aldryngton Primary School Primary
- Alfred Sutton Primary School Primary
- All Saints Church of England Aided Infant School Primary
- All Saints Junior School Primary
- Basildon C.E. Primary School Primary
- Battle Primary Academy Primary
- Beechwood Primary School Primary
- Beenham Primary School Primary
- Birch Copse Primary School Primary
- Bradfield C.E. Primary School Primary
- Brimpton C.E. Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does New Town Primary School teach?
- New Town Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Reading.
- Who is the headteacher of New Town Primary School?
- The headteacher of New Town Primary School is Miss Polly Cornish, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has New Town Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected New Town 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 New Town Primary School?
- New Town Primary School has 410 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is New Town Primary School full?
- New Town Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 410 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is New Town Primary School a faith school?
- No. New Town Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does New Town Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records New Town Primary School as having nursery classes.
- Is New Town Primary School part of an academy trust?
- New Town Primary School is part of OXFORD DIOCESAN SCHOOLS TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does New Town Primary School have?
- The schools register lists New Town Primary School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have New Town Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 47% 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 New Town Primary School compare with other schools in Reading?
- New Town Primary School ranked 24th of 37 primary schools in Reading 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 43% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is New Town Primary School's absence rate?
- New Town Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.7% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are New Town Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, New Town 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 2 July 2026.