Walderslade Primary School

About Walderslade Primary School

Walderslade Primary School’s Key Stage 2 results put it comfortably ahead of the Medway local authority average. While the LA average for pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined sits at 62%, Walderslade achieves 73% — a clear eleven-point gap. That places the school 12th out of 76 primary schools in Medway, putting it in the top 25% nationally. Its reading and maths average scores both hit 105, and 87% of pupils met the expected standard in maths specifically. The school is also oversubscribed by a wide margin: for 27 places in the 2025/26 intake, it received 147 applications, with 26 first-preference offers made. That ratio of over five applicants per place tells you local families see the value here. It’s a state-funded, mixed primary for ages 4 to 11, with no religious character, and it’s run by headteacher Amy Rowley-Jones.

Academically, the school has improved significantly since its last graded inspection. In 2013, Ofsted rated it Requires Improvement across both overall effectiveness and leadership. By its most recent graded inspection in 2015, it had jumped to Good overall, with Good leadership and Good early years provision. An ungraded inspection in 2024 confirmed the school remains Good and is improving. At Key Stage 2, 23% of pupils reached the higher standard in reading, 23% in maths, and 17% in writing — though only 7% hit the higher bar across all three subjects. Progress scores aren’t available in the data, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds relative to starting points, but the raw attainment figures are solid. The school ranks 13th in Medway when measured by the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, and sits in the top quarter nationally.

Walderslade offers a decent spread of facilities and activities. There’s a sensory room, art studios, music rooms, a forest school, an outdoor playground, and even a chapel on site. Sports include netball, athletics, cross country, rounders, dance and cricket, while clubs cover choir, gardening, coding and art club. The school’s SEND provision is broad, supporting pupils with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, autistic spectrum disorder, multi-sensory impairment, physical disability, and social, emotional and mental health needs. With 241 pupils on roll against a capacity of 240, the school is essentially full, and 14.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals — slightly below the national average for primary schools. For families in Medway, this is a popular, well-regarded option that delivers above-average results without being a faith school, and it’s within 0.6 km of St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary, one of only four Outstanding primaries in the authority.

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