Guston Church of England Primary School

About Guston Church of England Primary School

Guston Church of England Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained since its last graded inspection in 2012. The school’s most recent ungraded inspection in 2021 confirmed it remains Good, with leadership and management also judged Good. On the key academic metric for primary schools, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, Guston achieved 74% in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure sits comfortably above the Kent local authority average of 63%, placing the school 9th out of 37 primary schools in the Dover area and within the top 25% nationally. In individual subjects, 84% of pupils met expectations in both maths and writing, while 79% did so in reading. Average scaled scores of 103 in maths and 104 in reading suggest solid, if not exceptional, attainment across the board.

The school’s Progress 8 scores are not available in the data, so it is difficult to measure how much value Guston adds beyond raw attainment. However, the Ofsted history tells a story of improvement: the previous graded inspection in 2008 rated the school Requires Improvement overall, with leadership and management also at that level. The jump to Good by 2012 and the sustained Good rating since then points to a stable and effective leadership team under headteacher Deby Day. The school is relatively small, with 152 pupils against a capacity of 180, and 23.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average. This context makes the above-average KS2 results particularly noteworthy, as the school is performing well despite a higher-than-typical level of disadvantage among its intake.

Guston is a Church of England primary school for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11, with no nursery or sixth form provision. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 24 applications for just 9 places, all of which went to first-preference families, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.67. The school offers a range of facilities including a dining hall, outdoor playground, sensory room, gymnasium and chapel, and runs clubs such as coding, chess, eco club, art club and book club. Sports on offer include swimming, cricket, football, rounders and gymnastics. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication issues, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. For families seeking a nearby Outstanding-rated alternative, Shatterlocks Infant and Nursery School is just 1.6 km away.

Key Details

Frequently Asked Questions About Guston Church of England Primary School

Helpful Guides for Parents