Cheriton Primary School

Cheriton Primary School is a friendly, culturally diverse primary school where pupils are happy, respectful and well cared for. Inspectors found the school ambitious for pupils, with a broad curriculum, strong reading and mathematics provision, a positive early years start, and calm, purposeful classrooms. Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, trips and responsibilities, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school has recently introduced a new curriculum and leaders have worked swiftly to support staff with training and time to implement it consistently. Governance is diligent, and staff workload is managed well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified well, and effective parental engagement helps pupils feel safe and ready to learn. There are still areas to improve. Teaching is not consistently adapted well enough for pupils with SEND, and some questioning focuses on too few pupils, limiting opportunities for all pupils to embed vocabulary and knowledge. Checks on what pupils know and remember are inconsistent, and attendance for some pupils falls below the school’s high expectations. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains part of the Vicus Cooperative Learning Trust while retaining its own governing body.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, respectful and caring towards one another in a friendly, culturally diverse school.
• Pupil roles such as well-being ambassadors help pupils become responsible and respectful citizens.
• The school is ambitious and pupils achieve well across a broad range of subjects.
• A new curriculum has been introduced swiftly and consistently, with effective staff training and workload support.
• Leaders and governors diligently check that pupils gain the knowledge and skills they need.
• Pupils develop strong reading and mathematical knowledge, including good reading fluency and catch-up support.
• Children in the early years get a positive start and quickly gain understanding of reading and number.
• Teachers help pupils recap prior learning and ask questions that encourage pupils to think.
• Pupils with SEND are identified well, with interventions supporting social and emotional needs.
• Effective parental engagement helps pupils feel happy, safe and ready to learn.
• Behaviour is good: classrooms are calm, learning is purposeful, and pupils view behaviour management as fair.
• Pupils access a wide range of clubs, activities, competitions and curriculum-linked trips, including support for disadvantaged pupils.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching is not consistently adapted well enough to support pupils with SEND in some subjects.
• Some pupils with SEND struggle to access their learning, which affects how well they achieve.
• Teacher questioning is too often focused on a limited number of pupils, so not all pupils get enough opportunities to embed vocabulary and knowledge.
• Checks on what pupils know and remember are inconsistent, sometimes affecting retention of key information over time.
• Attendance for some pupils falls below the school’s high expectations.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Cheriton Primary School attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Cheriton Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Cheriton Primary School had 20.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 19.7% of pupils at Cheriton Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Cheriton Primary School received £6,983 and spent £6,907 for each of its 391 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £134,000 (£344 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Folkestone · Kent local authority: places and applications

What is Cheriton Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Cheriton Primary School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Cheriton Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Cheriton Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Cheriton Primary School have?

Cheriton Primary School has 391 pupils on roll.

What age range does Cheriton Primary School cover?

Cheriton Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Cheriton Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Cheriton Primary School?

Cheriton Primary School is at Church Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 3EP.