St Margarets CofE Primary School

About St Margarets CofE Primary School

St Margarets CofE Primary School sits second out of 39 primary schools in Barking and Dagenham, placing it firmly among the borough’s strongest performers. It trails only Rush Green Primary School at the top, and sits ahead of The St Teresa Catholic Primary School and Riverside Primary School, which round out the local top four. The school’s ranking score of 88 puts it in the top five per cent of primaries in the local authority, and it also ranks within the top four per cent nationally. Headteacher Sophie Bannon leads a Church of England mixed school of 387 pupils, with capacity for 420. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in March 2025, judged that it had improved significantly since its previous graded inspection, and the overall effectiveness remains Good. Leadership and management were also rated Good. That represents a clear upward trajectory from the Requires Improvement rating the school received in its 2013 graded inspection.

Academically, St Margarets delivers strong results at Key Stage 2. In the 2023/24 assessments, 88 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, well above the Barking and Dagenham local authority average of 65 per cent. The school also excels at the higher standard: 21 per cent of pupils reached that level across all three subjects. In maths, 95 per cent met the expected standard and 60 per cent reached the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 110. Reading saw 91 per cent at the expected level and 56 per cent at the higher level, with an average score of 109. Writing was similarly strong, with 91 per cent at the expected standard and 21 per cent at the higher level. These outcomes place St Margarets in the top five per cent of primaries in London and the top four per cent nationally by its KS2 expected standard metric.

The school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 162 applications for 60 places, a ratio of 2.7 applicants per place, with 56 of those offers going to first-preference families. Facilities include a sensory room, library, forest school, playing fields, sports hall and chapel. The school offers a wide range of sports and clubs, from athletics and swimming to chess, coding and eco club. Its SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language needs, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses from 47 families were overwhelmingly positive: 98 per cent would recommend the school, and 97 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy there. This is a school that suits families looking for strong academic outcomes within a Church of England setting, backed by a broad extracurricular offer and clear SEND support.

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