Long Mead Community Primary School

Long Mead Community Primary School is a caring community school where pupils are happy, feel safe and behave well. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision are good, while the quality of education requires improvement. The school has high expectations, a calm and purposeful atmosphere, strong support for pupils' emotional needs and a broad range of clubs and experiences. Safeguarding is effective. The inspection took place after a period of significant change, including new leadership and governance since the previous inspection, and was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders and governors have a strong understanding of the school and have accurately prioritised improvement work, with staff benefiting from high-quality training. The curriculum has been redesigned to be ambitious and starts in early years, but this work is relatively new and not yet fully embedded, so pupils still have gaps in knowledge and do not recall prior learning well enough. Key concerns are that phonics teaching is not consistently effective, some reading books are not closely matched to pupils' phonics knowledge, and in a small number of subjects teaching activities do not help pupils deepen their understanding as well as they could. Some pupils do not reach expected levels in writing, and some cannot apply mathematical knowledge well enough. Pupils with SEND are generally identified quickly and supported well, attendance is notably improving, and pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and behave well in a calm and purposeful school.
• Staff build positive relationships and support pupils who need help to regulate their emotions.
• The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement.
• The curriculum is ambitious and begins in the early years.
• Staff receive high-quality training that helps them work effectively.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the school's priorities.
• Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and generally learn well against personal targets.
• Early years staff model language accurately, helping children communicate swiftly.
• Reading is prioritised and older pupils read widely and discuss books enthusiastically.
• Support for attendance, including use of the school minibus, is very effective.
• Pupils show high levels of respect and care for each other.
• Pupils enjoy a broad range of clubs and opportunities to represent the school in sport and music.
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain and have mature attitudes to diversity.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement.
• The new curriculum is not yet fully embedded, so pupils have gaps in knowledge and recall prior learning poorly.
• Pupils do not routinely achieve as well as they should across subjects.
• Phonics teaching is not consistently accurate or effective.
• Some reading books are not closely matched to the sounds and letters pupils know.
• Some pupils do not become fluent readers quickly enough.
• In a small number of subjects, teaching activities are not designed well enough to deepen pupils' understanding.
• Some pupils do not reach expected levels in writing.
• Some pupils cannot apply their mathematical knowledge well enough.

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 Long Mead Community Primary School attended 93.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 23.1% 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, 6.6% of pupils at Long Mead 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 Long Mead Community Primary School had 14.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 31.4% 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, 31.5% of pupils at Long Mead Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.1% 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 Long Mead Community Primary School received £9,691 and spent £9,931 for each of its 132 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £125,000 (£949 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 Tonbridge · Kent local authority: places and applications

What is Long Mead Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Long Mead Community Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Long Mead Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Long Mead Community Primary School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Long Mead Community Primary School have?

Long Mead Community Primary School has 143 pupils on roll.

What age range does Long Mead Community Primary School cover?

Long Mead Community Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Long Mead Community Primary School?

Long Mead Community Primary School is at Waveney Road, Tonbridge, Kent, TN10 3JU.