Thorne King Edward Primary School

About Thorne King Edward Primary School

Thorne King Edward Primary School is a state primary in Doncaster, a local authority where only four out of 98 primary schools currently hold an Outstanding Ofsted rating. The school itself was rated Outstanding in its 2013 inspection but dropped to Good in its most recent graded inspection in July 2024, a shift that places it in the middle of the local pack. Among its peers in the borough, it sits behind the top three performers: Crookesbroom Primary Academy, St Oswald's CofE Academy and Arksey Primary School. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Holy Family Catholic Primary School, 4.6 kilometres away. Thorne King Edward is a mixed, non-religious primary for ages three to eleven, with a nursery on site. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, 30 first-preference families applied for 30 places, but total applications reached 54, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.8. The school currently has 365 pupils against a capacity of 320, so it is running above its official limit.

Academically, Thorne King Edward’s Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 59%, just below the Doncaster local authority average of 61%. That places the school 54th out of 87 primaries in the borough and in the bottom 50% nationally. Individual subject scores are more encouraging: 76% hit the expected standard in maths, 70% in reading and 74% in writing. Average scaled scores were 105 in both reading and maths, which is in line with the national benchmark. However, only 4% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, and the percentages reaching the higher bar in individual subjects were 19% in reading, 17% in maths and 9% in writing. The school’s Ofsted report, published in September 2024, rated behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision all as Good, with no outstanding judgements.

The school offers a solid range of facilities, including a Forest School, sensory room, sports hall, playing fields, art studios and an ICT suite. Sports provision covers football, cricket, rounders, gymnastics and netball, while clubs extend to coding, drama, eco club and science club. SEND support is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. With a third of pupils eligible for free school meals (33.6%), the school serves a relatively disadvantaged community. It is a good fit for families in Thorne and surrounding Doncaster villages who want a well-resourced primary with a nursery, strong SEND provision and a broad extracurricular offer, but who are realistic about its mid-table academic standing compared with the strongest local performers.

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