Featherby Junior School

Featherby Junior School is performing well overall, having made significant improvements since its last inspection, which rated it inadequate. The school now provides a good quality of education, with a strong focus on pupil safety, well-being, and academic achievement. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and engage well with a curriculum designed to promote curiosity and resilience. Leaders at the school are proactive in supporting all students, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and have taken effective steps to improve safeguarding practices.

Strengths

• Pupils exhibit kindness, respect, and a sense of safety within the school community.
• The curriculum is broad, coherently planned, and builds effectively on prior learning.
• Significant improvements in support for struggling readers.
• High attendance rates and a declining proportion of persistently absent pupils.
• Leaders are committed to continuous improvement and have clear priorities for the future.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils lack basic mathematical fluency, impeding their ability to tackle more complex work.
• SEND support is not always aligned precisely with learning targets, hindering rapid progress.

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 Featherby Junior School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.6% 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, 0.3% of pupils at Featherby Junior 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 Featherby Junior School had 22.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 32.1% 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, 21.0% of pupils at Featherby Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% 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 Featherby Junior School received £11,705 and spent £11,403 for each of its 359 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £623,000 (£1,735 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of Maritime Academy Trust, income was £9,896 and spending £9,406 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 Gillingham · Medway local authority: places and applications

Featherby Junior School is part of Maritime Academy Trust, which runs 13 schools. The nearest others:

• Featherby Infant and Nursery School Gillingham
• Danecourt School Gillingham
• Barnsole Primary School Gillingham
• Bligh Primary School (Juniors) Rochester
• Bligh Primary School (Infants) Rochester
• Ebbsfleet Green Primary School Swanscombe
• Hook Lane Primary School Welling
• Timbercroft Primary School London
• Greenacres Primary School and Language Impairment Unit London
• Nightingale Primary School London

What is Featherby Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Featherby Junior School is Good, from an inspection in September 2022.

When was Featherby Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Featherby Junior School was last inspected in September 2022.

How many pupils does Featherby Junior School have?

Featherby Junior School has 348 pupils on roll.

What age range does Featherby Junior School cover?

Featherby Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Featherby Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 64% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Featherby Junior School?

Featherby Junior School is at Chilham Road, Featherby Junior School, Gillingham, Kent, ME8 6BT.