Temple Mill Primary School

Temple Mill Primary School continues to perform well, maintaining its status as a good school. The school's inclusive environment and strong leadership focus on ensuring that all pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve their best. Pupils express pride in their nurturing school community, where they feel safe and supported in their learning and development. The school is making progress in delivering a broad curriculum that effectively meets the needs of its students, fostering good learning outcomes and positive pupil engagement. Despite these strengths, the school recognizes the need for further enhancements, particularly in some areas of the curriculum where expectations can be raised. Although there are effective systems in place, the school aims to ensure that all subjects consistently meet high standards of depth and quality in pupil work. The recent inspection serves as a reaffirmation of the school's commitment to improvement and the ongoing support from the Howard Academy Trust.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy learning and take pride in their school.
• Strong relationships between staff and pupils create a supportive environment.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, catering to all pupils including those with SEND.
• Effective phonics program helps early learners develop reading skills.
• Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning and behavior.
• The school has successfully improved attendance and punctuality over time.

Areas for Improvement

• Expectations in some subjects are not consistently high.
• Depth of pupils' knowledge and understanding varies.
• Quality of presentation in pupils' work needs improvement.

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 Temple Mill Primary School attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.9% 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, 1.6% of pupils at Temple Mill 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 Temple Mill Primary School had 21.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 27.3% 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, 14.8% of pupils at Temple Mill Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.2% 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 2024–25 Temple Mill Primary School received £6,642 and spent £6,737 for each of its 242 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £139,000 (£575 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of The Howard Academy Trust, income was £7,563 and spending £7,548 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Rochester · Medway local authority: places and applications

Temple Mill Primary School is part of The Howard Academy Trust, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• Waterfront UTC Chatham
• Thames View Primary School Gillingham
• The Howard School Gillingham
• Miers Court Primary School Rainham
• Deanwood Primary School Gillingham
• Hurstmere School Sidcup
• The Abbey School Faversham

What is Temple Mill Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Temple Mill Primary School is Good, from an inspection in May 2024.

When was Temple Mill Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Temple Mill Primary School was last inspected in May 2024.

How many pupils does Temple Mill Primary School have?

Temple Mill Primary School has 237 pupils on roll.

What age range does Temple Mill Primary School cover?

Temple Mill Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 66% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Temple Mill Primary School?

Temple Mill Primary School is at Cliffe Road, Strood, Rochester, Kent, ME2 3NL.