Chelsfield Primary School

Chelsfield Primary School is a small, friendly primary school that pupils enjoy attending, with warm relationships and a family-like ethos built around kindness, unity and ambition. Inspectors found the school good in all graded areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the school has been through a period of change, with stakeholders describing it as 'on the up' while recognising more work remains. The school's strengths include a strong focus on early reading and phonics, high expectations for all pupils including those with SEND, and a broad, ambitious curriculum that in most subjects is carefully sequenced. Pupils behave well, attendance is improving, safeguarding is effective, and pupils benefit from a wide range of personal development opportunities. Leaders, governors and trust colleagues are committed to improvement, and staff value the training and support they receive. The main areas for improvement are that a small number of subjects still lack clearly defined key knowledge and sequencing, subject and pedagogical expertise is still developing in some areas, and teachers do not always check pupils' understanding carefully enough. As a result, some pupils' knowledge does not build progressively over time, and errors or misconceptions are sometimes repeated. The school recognises the need for further guidance and training to ensure the curriculum is delivered consistently well.

Strengths

• Warm, nurturing and friendly school where pupils feel part of a family
• Pupils behave well with clear routines and rare disruptions to learning
• Strong early reading and phonics provision from Reception with matched books and targeted catch-up support
• Broad and ambitious curriculum framed around equality, growth mindset and sustainability
• High expectations for all pupils, including those with SEND, who are supported to learn alongside peers
• Pupils achieve well and are well prepared for learning the wider curriculum
• Rich personal development opportunities including school council, tuck shop, newspaper and talent events
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Attendance is improving because leaders prioritise and address absence
• Committed leaders and governors who collaborate effectively on school improvement
• Staff value high-quality training, well-being support and joint working with another local school
• Children in Reception settle quickly, learn routines and begin to regulate their emotions

Areas for Improvement

• In a small number of subjects, key knowledge and the order in which it should be taught are not fully decided
• Some pupils' knowledge does not develop progressively because curriculum thinking is incomplete in those subjects
• Subject and pedagogical expertise is still being developed in some subjects
• The curriculum is not implemented as effectively as it could be in some classrooms
• Teachers do not always check pupils' understanding carefully enough
• Teaching sometimes moves on before pupils have fully understood, so errors and misconceptions can be repeated
• Further guidance and training are needed to ensure consistent curriculum delivery

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 Chelsfield Primary School attended 93.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.3% 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 Chelsfield 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 Chelsfield Primary School had 17.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 41.3% 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, 13.4% of pupils at Chelsfield Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 8.2% 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 2023–24 Chelsfield Primary School received £7,698 and spent £7,883 for each of its 96 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £4,000 (-£46 per pupil).

Across all 12 schools of Lumero Educational Trust, income was £6,438 and spending £6,434 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 Bromley · Bromley local authority: places and applications

Chelsfield Primary School is part of Lumero Educational Trust, which runs 12 schools. The nearest others:

• The Highway Primary School Orpington
• Pratts Bottom Primary School Orpington
• Green Street Green Primary School Orpington
• Tubbenden Primary School Orpington
• Darrick Wood Junior School Orpington
• Chislehurst School for Girls Chislehurst
• Charles Darwin School Westerham
• Biggin Hill Primary School Westerham
• Bullers Wood School Chislehurst
• Bullers Wood School for Boys Bromley

What is Chelsfield Primary School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Chelsfield Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Chelsfield Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Chelsfield Primary School have?

Chelsfield Primary School has 97 pupils on roll.

What age range does Chelsfield Primary School cover?

Chelsfield Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 27% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Chelsfield Primary School?

Chelsfield Primary School is at Warren Road, Chelsfield, Orpington, Kent, BR6 6EP.