Medway Community Primary School

About Medway Community Primary School

Medway Community Primary School in Leicester is a state-funded, mixed primary for children aged 3 to 11, currently home to 463 pupils against a capacity of 560. That leaves some physical headroom, but the school is clearly in demand: for the 2025/26 admissions cycle, it received 75 applications for just 47 places, with 40 of those offers going to first-preference families. The oversubscription ratio sits at 1.6, meaning for every place, roughly one and a half families wanted it. The school’s intake also reflects a significant level of disadvantage: 30% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average of around 23% and notably higher than the Leicester local authority average for primary schools. This context matters because it shapes the kind of support the school needs to provide, and it helps explain the academic results that follow. The school has a nursery provision attached, so children can start before Reception, and the headteacher is Steven Williams.

Academically, Medway’s most recent Key Stage 2 results (2023/24) show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 57%, which is below the Leicester local authority average of 62%. That places the school 44th out of 68 primaries in the city, putting it in the bottom half of the local league table. Breaking it down, maths was the strongest subject: 78% of pupils hit the expected standard and 45% reached the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 105. Reading was weaker, with 65% at expected and an average score of 102, while writing saw 73% at expected but only 8% at the higher level. The school’s Ofsted rating is Good, confirmed in an ungraded inspection in October 2022, and notably leadership and management were judged Outstanding. This is a significant improvement from the school’s previous inspection in 2011, when overall effectiveness was Requires Improvement.

On the practical side, Medway offers a solid range of facilities including an outdoor playground, playing fields, a library, an ICT suite and a chapel. Sports provision covers cricket, athletics, rounders, dance and tennis, while after-school clubs include drama, film club, science club, coding and art club. The school has a strong SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate and severe learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. For families weighing up options, this is a school that serves a diverse and disadvantaged community well, with leadership that has been recognised as Outstanding by Ofsted. It is oversubscribed but not impossibly so, and its academic results sit around the middle of the Leicester pack. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Catherine Infant School, about 2 km away, which may be worth a look for families who prioritise top-tier Ofsted grades.

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