Good, and unusually complete for a village. There's a primary school with the village's name on it. There's a secondary in the village as well, so there's no daily coach trip. Nearly nine in ten graded schools across the county are good or better. The school run can be a walk, and in rural Oxfordshire that's rare.
At primary, the average end-of-primary maths score across the five state primaries in the area is about 107. Sonning Common Primary School is the obvious choice for families in the village itself. Peppard Church of England Primary School and Kidmore End Church of England Primary School sit close by, serving Rotherfield Peppard and Kidmore End. Five primaries for a settlement this size means parents get a choice, at least on paper. Estate agents like to call that "excellent local schools". Admissions staff call it a waiting list.
At secondary, the area has one state school, Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge, and it's in the village. The pupil-weighted Attainment 8 score for the area is about 44. That figure comes from one school, so it describes that school rather than a spread of options. Having the secondary this close is worth more than it sounds. The alternative in most Chilterns villages is an early bus and a long day. Sixth formers usually travel to The Henley College in Henley-on-Thames, so the commuting starts at sixteen instead of eleven. Bishopswood School, a special school, also serves the wider area.
Ofsted's picture covers the whole of Oxfordshire, not just this corner of it. Of the 121 schools with a published grade, 108 are good or better, close to nine in ten. Eleven are outstanding, ten require improvement and three are inadequate. A further 151 settings hold no published grade yet, and that says nothing either way about their quality. The county baseline is sound, which means a buyer here starts from a good position before looking at any individual school.
Living near a named school doesn't guarantee a place in it. Oxfordshire allocates places under its own admissions rules. How close you live counts, but it doesn't settle the matter, and plenty of families have bought a house for a school and then learned the rules in the spring. Check the admissions criteria for the specific school and year before an offer, not after.
Schools are one of Sonning Common's real strengths. A primary and a secondary on the doorstep, inside a county that grades well, is a better deal than most families expect from a village this size.