Faringdon's schools are good, and the secondary decision takes about four seconds. Six state primaries around here. One state secondary. Nearly nine in ten schools across the county rated good or better. Parents elsewhere spend a year on open evenings; here the shortlist makes itself.
At primary level, the six mainstream state primaries in the area average a Key Stage 2 maths score of about 104. That is a respectable figure spread across a town and its villages rather than propped up by one star school. In town, Folly View Primary and The Elms Primary School carry most of the load, and the village schools do the rest, from Uffington Church of England Primary School to Stanford in the Vale CofE Primary School and the combined Longcot and Fernham Church of England Primary School, a name that tells you exactly how many villages it takes to fill a classroom out here. Modelled 2019 journey times put the nearest primary about 16 minutes' walk from the average home, which is short enough that the school run can be a walk if anyone in the house is willing.
At secondary level there is Faringdon Community College, the only mainstream state secondary in the area, with a pupil-weighted Attainment 8 score of about 44. That single number is the whole secondary story, which is either reassuring or alarming depending on how much you enjoy having options. The modelled walk to the nearest secondary is about 22 minutes, so most teenagers here can get themselves to school without a parent acting as a taxi service.
Ofsted's picture covers the whole of Oxfordshire rather than Faringdon alone. Of the 121 settings with a published grade, 108 are good or outstanding, which is close to nine in ten. Eleven are outstanding, ten require improvement and three are inadequate. Settings that have not yet been graded are left out of those counts entirely.
None of this buys you a place. A school named on this page is not a guarantee of admission, and allocation rules sit with Oxfordshire and each school's own admissions policy rather than with whoever sold you the house. Check the admissions arrangements for the specific school before you exchange, because the house nearest the gate is the one estate agents describe as "in catchment" whether or not the council agrees. There is also St Hugh's School in the area for families looking outside the state system.
Schools are one of Faringdon's real strengths: a solid spread of primaries and a single secondary that removes the agonising. Families who move here for the schools rarely have to move again for them.