Speldhurst Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

About Speldhurst Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Speldhurst Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School received an Outstanding rating across all five graded areas in its most recent Ofsted inspection, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This is a clean sweep of top grades, and the school has held an Outstanding overall effectiveness rating since at least its previous inspection in 2014. The most telling exam metric comes from Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year: 81 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure is well above the Kent local authority average of 63 per cent for primary schools, and it places Speldhurst fourth out of 31 primary schools in the Tunbridge Wells area. Nationally, the school sits in the top ten per cent of all state primaries for this combined measure, which gives a clear sense of the academic strength on offer here.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the picture is consistently strong. In reading, 97 per cent of pupils met the expected standard and 71 per cent reached the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 111. Maths saw 90 per cent at the expected level and 39 per cent at the higher standard, with an average score of 107. Writing was similarly robust, with 90 per cent at the expected standard and 29 per cent at the higher level. The school’s ranking score of 81, based on the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, places it in the top ten per cent nationally and eighth percentile regionally within the South East. Parent feedback is overwhelmingly positive: 98 per cent of respondents would recommend the school, and 84 per cent strongly agreed that their child is happy at the school. The school’s Ofsted report also noted Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, with 66 per cent of parents strongly agreeing that pupils are well behaved.

Speldhurst is a Church of England voluntary aided primary school for mixed pupils aged 4 to 11, with a current roll of 213 pupils against a capacity of 210. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 140 applications for 30 places, with 39 first-preference applications and 30 offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 4.67. The school has a relatively low proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 6.1 per cent. Facilities include an ICT suite, library, dining hall, forest school and a chapel, and the school offers a range of sports including football, cricket, gymnastics, rounders and dance, plus clubs such as chess, coding, choir and gardening. SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. This is a school that suits families seeking strong academic outcomes within a church foundation, where demand is high and places are competitive.

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