The schools around Pangbourne are good, and that is not an estate agent's "good". Nine in ten of the local schools with a published grade are good or better. Two are outstanding. None have been judged inadequate. Parents here worry about the schools a lot more than the inspection reports suggest they need to.
There are 4 mainstream state primary schools in the area, and their average maths score at the end of primary is about 105. Pangbourne Primary School is the one with the village's name on it, and it is the obvious starting point for a family moving in. Whitchurch Primary School serves Whitchurch-on-Thames across the river, and Purley CofE Primary School and Basildon C.E. Primary School sit in the villages round about. A maths average like that doesn't give anyone much to complain about, and parents in a village like this will still find something.
Ofsted has graded 21 of 23 rated schools good or better, which is nine in ten. Two are outstanding, two require improvement and none are inadequate. Those counts cover the whole of West Berkshire, not only Pangbourne, so they describe the local authority the village sits in rather than the schools at the end of the road. A further 42 settings are not included because they have no published grade yet. That is a gap in the inspection timetable, not a verdict on the schools.
A house near a named school does not guarantee a place at it. Admissions follow the published criteria for each school, and they apply to the family who moved in last month the same way they apply to everyone else. The criteria get read most carefully by people who have already exchanged contracts. Anyone buying with a particular school in mind should check that school's admissions rules and recent allocations before the offer, not after the survey.
At secondary age, Langtree School is the state secondary among the local names, and that's the point where the school run stops being a walk and becomes a lift. The independent schools are a different decision altogether. Pangbourne College sits just outside the built-up village, and The Oratory School and its preparatory school are also nearby. Plenty of the parents choosing between them will say the fees had nothing to do with it.
Schools are one of Pangbourne's real strengths. The inspection record gives buyers very little to worry about, and the worrying happens anyway.