Swalecliffe Community Primary School

Swalecliffe Community Primary School remains a good school with a strong positive environment where pupils feel safe and supported. The high priority placed on building relationships between staff and pupils has contributed to a happy school atmosphere. Pupils are ambitious and eager to meet high expectations, particularly excelling in mathematics. The school prioritizes reading and fosters a love of literature, with engaging texts that enhance learning experiences. Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) provision is well-integrated, with students achieving alongside their peers.

Strengths

• Strong relationships between staff and pupils foster a positive environment.
• High expectations for pupil behavior and learning.
• Effective support for pupils with SEND to access the curriculum.
• Ambitious and well-structured mathematics curriculum.
• Prioritization of reading with well-matched texts to pupils' phonics knowledge.
• High-quality personal development opportunities for pupils.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils do not read with enough fluency or confidence due to inadequacies in additional support.
• In certain subjects, pupils struggle to make connections in their learning.

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 Swalecliffe Community Primary School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.4% 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, 2.2% of pupils at Swalecliffe Community 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 Swalecliffe Community Primary School had 20.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.4% 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, 12.2% of pupils at Swalecliffe Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.0% 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 Swalecliffe Community Primary School received £6,528 and spent £6,718 for each of its 492 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £9,000 (£19 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 Whitstable · Kent local authority: places and applications

Swalecliffe Community Primary School is part of The Coastal Alliance Co-Operative Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Whitstable Junior School Whitstable
• Joy Lane Primary Foundation School Whitstable

What is Swalecliffe Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Swalecliffe Community Primary School is Good, from an inspection in October 2023.

When was Swalecliffe Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Swalecliffe Community Primary School was last inspected in October 2023.

How many pupils does Swalecliffe Community Primary School have?

Swalecliffe Community Primary School has 492 pupils on roll.

What age range does Swalecliffe Community Primary School cover?

Swalecliffe Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 52% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Swalecliffe Community Primary School?

Swalecliffe Community Primary School is at Bridgefield Road, Swalecliffe, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 2PH.