Thorpe Lea Primary School

About Thorpe Lea Primary School

Thorpe Lea Primary School in Runnymede holds a Good rating from Ofsted, confirmed in an ungraded inspection in 2021 that also awarded the early years provision an Outstanding grade. The most informative exam metric for this state primary is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2, which was 54% in the 2023/24 academic year. That is below the Surrey local authority average of 66%, and it places the school 11th out of 17 primary schools in the Runnymede borough. Nationally, Thorpe Lea sits in the bottom 50% of schools for this measure. The picture is more mixed when you look at individual subjects: 81% of pupils met the expected standard in maths, compared with 77% in reading and 65% in writing.

Looking deeper into the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, the school’s average scaled scores were 104 in both reading and maths, which is exactly the national average. However, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading, writing and maths combined was just 4%, and only 15% reached the higher standard in reading or maths individually. This suggests that while most children are hitting the expected level in maths, stretching the highest attainers is a more significant challenge. The school’s Progress 8 scores are not available in the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. In its previous 2014 inspection, the school was rated Requires Improvement overall, with leadership and management also at that level, so the improvement to Good in 2016 and the subsequent confirmation in 2021 represent a clear upward trajectory in quality.

Thorpe Lea is a state primary for children aged 3 to 11, with nursery provision on site. It is significantly oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 99 applications for 30 places, a ratio of 3.3 to one, and only 22 of those 99 were first-preference offers. The school has a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 30.3%, well above the national average. Facilities include a Forest School, a sensory room, an ICT suite and art studios, and there is a wide range of sports on offer including netball, tennis, gymnastics and swimming. The school also runs clubs such as film club, coding and choir. For children with additional needs, the school supports a broad spectrum of SEND provisions, including autistic spectrum disorder, speech, language and communication needs, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties. This is a school that has improved its Ofsted rating in recent years and serves a diverse intake, but parents should be aware that academic outcomes at the expected standard are below the local average and that competition for places is fierce.

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