Rivermead Primary School

About Rivermead Primary School

Rivermead Primary School sits in the middle of the pack in Wokingham, a local authority where primary schools generally perform well. Its headline Key Stage 2 metric — the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths — stands at 66%, which is four percentage points below the Wokingham average of 70%. That gap is modest but worth noting, especially for parents comparing schools in this competitive area. The school ranks 24th out of 34 primaries in the borough, placing it in the bottom third locally, though it fares better nationally, sitting around the 42nd percentile. Oversubscription figures tell a slightly different story: for 2025/26 entry, Rivermead received 154 applications for 59 places, with all 59 first-preference families offered a spot. That 2.61 ratio of applications to places suggests strong local demand, even if the school’s headline results don’t quite match the LA average.

Digging into the 2023/24 SATs results, the picture is mixed. In reading, 78% of pupils met the expected standard and 39% reached the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 107. Maths was stronger on expected attainment — 91% hit the mark — but only 30% achieved the higher threshold, and the average score was also 107. Writing saw 72% at expected and just 16% at greater depth. The combined expected standard of 66% is the figure that drags the school below the LA norm, largely because writing and reading expected rates are lower than maths. Ofsted last graded the school Good in 2014, with a follow-up ungraded inspection in 2018 confirming it remains Good. That 2014 inspection gave top marks of Good for leadership, management and early years provision, though the previous 2012 inspection had rated the school Requires Improvement, so the trajectory has been upward. There’s no Progress 8 data available for this primary, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds relative to intake.

Rivermead is a community primary for children aged 4 to 11, with a capacity of 420 and currently 421 pupils on roll — essentially full. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is 9%, slightly below the national average. Facilities include a dining hall, ICT suite, sensory room, forest school and a chapel, which is unusual for a non-faith school. Sports on offer cover football, cricket, dance, rounders and gymnastics, while clubs include choir, science club, art club and coding. The school lists a broad range of SEND provisions, from dyslexia support to autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, visual impairment and multi-sensory impairment. For families who value a Good-rated school with strong local demand, a forest school and solid SEND support, Rivermead is a practical choice — just be aware that its KS2 outcomes sit a little below the Wokingham average, and the nearest Outstanding school, St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary, is only 1.3 km away.

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