Old Sarum Primary School
Pheasant Drive, Old Sarum, Salisbury, SP4 6GH
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- MAGNA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Barwell
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Magna Learning Partnership
- Constituency
- Salisbury
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 242
- URN
- 149207
- Local authority
- Wiltshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01722410677
About this school
Old Sarum Primary School is a primary academy in Salisbury. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 242 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Old Sarum 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Early years
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 42 | 51 | 52 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 43% | 31% | 38% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 2% | 4% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 64% | 59% | 54% |
| Expected standard in maths | 52% | 53% | 46% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 67% | 63% | 44% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 102.0 | 100.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 101.0 | 99.0 | 98.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -2.60 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.60 | - | - |
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 Old Sarum 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 | Wiltshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 43% | 56.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 31% | 56.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 38% | 58.2% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 331 |
| 2023/24 | 309 |
| 2024/25 | 283 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Old Sarum Primary School compares
Old Sarum Primary School ranked 157th of 174 primary schools in Wiltshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 54% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38% | 5.3% | 24.4% | 242 | — |
| Greentrees Primary School | 70% | 3.5% | 20.1% | 425 | 0.9 miles |
| Wyndham Park Infants' School | — | 5.6% | 11.5% | 227 | 1.4 miles |
| Stratford-sub-Castle Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | 62% | 3.8% | 14.9% | 147 | 1.4 miles |
| St Mark's CofE Junior School, Salisbury | 70% | 5.7% | 15.9% | 346 | 1.4 miles |
| Winterbourne Earls Church of England Primary School | — | — | — | 197 | 1.5 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)
- 24.38%
- English as an additional language
- 13.4%
- Overall absence
- 5.29%
- Persistent absence
- 16.36%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Greentrees Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Salisbury
-
Wyndham Park Infants' School1.4 miles
Primary · Salisbury
-
Stratford-sub-Castle Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School1.4 miles
Primary · Salisbury
-
St Mark's CofE Junior School, Salisbury1.4 miles
Primary · Salisbury
-
Winterbourne Earls Church of England Primary School1.5 miles
Primary · Salisbury
Other schools in Salisbury
Old Sarum Primary School ranks 35th of the 40 ranked primary schools in Salisbury.
- Alderbury and West Grimstead Church of England Primary School Primary
- Amesbury Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Bemerton St John Church of England Primary Primary
- Broad Chalke CofE Primary School Primary
- Bulford St Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School Primary
- Chilmark and Fonthill Bishop Church of England Aided Primary School Primary
- Coombe Bissett Church of England Primary School Primary
- Dinton CofE Primary School Primary
- Downton CofE VA Primary School Primary
- Durrington All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Infants' School Primary
- Durrington Church of England Controlled Junior School Primary
- Gomeldon Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Old Sarum Primary School teach?
- Old Sarum Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Salisbury.
- Who is the headteacher of Old Sarum Primary School?
- The headteacher of Old Sarum Primary School is Mrs Sarah Barwell, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Old Sarum Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Old Sarum 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 Old Sarum Primary School?
- Old Sarum Primary School has 242 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Old Sarum Primary School full?
- Old Sarum Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 242 on roll (58%), 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 Old Sarum Primary School a faith school?
- No. Old Sarum Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Is Old Sarum Primary School a selective school?
- No. Old Sarum Primary School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Old Sarum Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Old Sarum Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Is Old Sarum Primary School part of an academy trust?
- Old Sarum Primary School is part of MAGNA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Old Sarum Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 43% in 2022/23 and 38% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Old Sarum Primary School compare with other schools in Wiltshire?
- Old Sarum Primary School ranked 157th of 174 primary schools in Wiltshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 54% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Old Sarum Primary School's absence rate?
- Old Sarum Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.3% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Old Sarum Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Old Sarum 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 3 July 2026.