Skip to content ↓

About Us

Established in 1859, Deanshanger Primary School is situated in the south of Northamptonshire, just over the border from Milton Keynes. In September 2022, we joined the Grand Union Partnership Trust.  We serve the villages of Deanshanger, Wicken, Puxley and Passenham, although pupils from further afield are sometimes admitted if we have places available. Currently, we have 307 pupils on roll which allows two form entry from Reception to Year 6. 

We are situated in a lovely position adjacent to the village green. The oldest part of the school dates from Victorian times, but over the years, extensive additional accommodation has been added. A large-scale building project finished in September 2015 providing us with an additional classroom, a drama/multi-purpose studio, an extended library facility, new focus rooms for individual learning needs and much-needed roof repairs. Whilst we look like a small village school from the front aspect, we actually extend back a long way and most visitors are surprised by our size. 

Our aim for pupils is simple — to ensure that they achieve and exceed their potential and have a lot of fun along the way. We strive to ensure that every day is filled with happiness, laughter, support, encouragement, and progress.  It is important that everyone feels safe at all times – our safeguarding practices must provide all children with a listening ear and the additional support that they might need for various reasons.

In September 2022, we became an Academy and joined the Grand Union Partnership Multi Academy Trust (GUP). We work in partnership with three Milton Keynes schools within the trust - New Bradwell School, Old Stratford Primary and Jubilee Wood School. Prior to joining the GUP, we worked closely with the schools in an informal manner to support our school's school improvement journey. 

We provide a rich diet of broad and authentic experiences to bring learning to life and to deliver the very best opportunities and experiences for our children, all 307 of them, both individually and collectively.  In line with government guidelines, we are strong advocates of a broad and balanced curriculum in every year group. We encourage our children to exercise their 'can do' attitude each day in all subjects, to ensure that they constantly reach for the stars. With amazing children, dedicated and compassionate staff and governors, a very proactive PTA, a very strong community and strong links with other schools,  we are well-placed for ongoing improvement and fun learning opportunities. 

We want our children to feel excited about the learning ahead from the beginning of the journey in Reception throughout their primary years to the end of year 6. We want them to engage fully, to make connections with their learning and life outside Deanshanger, to be enthused to push their learning forward and, very importantly, to be able to store this knowledge in their long-term memories and be able to retrieve it.  In the classrooms, you'll see lots of tools to support learning such as WAGOLS - posters sharing 'what a good one looks like', knowledge prompts, relevant vocabulary, knowledge harvests and ever-building knowledge boards, from the day or week's teaching, to support understanding and ever-growing retrieval of prior learning. 

There are no ceilings on children’s success, and we continually promote a ‘Yes, I can’, growth mindset attitude. We also want our children to grow into all-rounded citizens that grow in to thoughtful adults fulfilling a meaningful and unique role in society.

A covered play area with a large courtyard joins the old and new sections of the school and provides semi-sheltered play space for the foundation stage and key stage 1 children; this area was completely renovated in September 2017 thanks to the amazing fundraising efforts of our PTA and community.

Reception and Year 1 have their own outside learning areas behind their classes to support early learning goals (for Reception), Year 1 expectations and lots of creative fun.  We have staff from other schools come and look at the areas and the way that these have been creatively developed on a budget to incorporate opportunities for multiple fun learning opportunities.

Behind the KS2 classes, we have a large playground, extensive grassed areas incorporating a playing field, and a large wildlife area with an enclosed pond, allotment, garden and a bird lookout. Whilst a wonderful nature area in its own right, it also houses our Forest School (started September 2017). In the area, just in front of the Forest School, we have developed an outside Science Lab!

Five years ago, we converted the previous kitchen pod into a sensory pod - a unique calming environment for use by all children.  This is a very special and well-used addition to our school. 

The PTA are very active in the school and have funded many ‘nice to haves' including two outside gazebos on the field, the play equipment in the courtyard play area £12,000 towards the school kitchen, special Christmas gift boxes for all pupils, and most recently, amazing furniture for an outside reading garden, a new shed for forest school and a dinosaur day in school - a real treat!



Whilst we are very proud of the learning environment, we are committed to the continued improvement of our site to ensure that it is always safe, stimulating, and inviting. We will continue to bring splashes of colour and enriched opportunities to our learning environment so that it truly reflects the vibrancy of school life.