Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road
Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road, Dagenham, RM9 6NH
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Miss Terina King
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Dagenham and Rainham
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 476
- Pupils on roll
- 454
- URN
- 101220
- Local authority
- Barking and Dagenham
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02082704588
About this school
Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road is a community primary school in Dagenham. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 454 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 14 March 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 62 | 59 | 51 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 63% | 63% | 73% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 10% | 8% |
| Expected standard in reading | 81% | 66% | 86% |
| Expected standard in maths | 82% | 80% | 84% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 76% | 76% | 84% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 105.0 | 109.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 107.0 | 109.0 |
| Reading progress | 0.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +0.60 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Barking and Dagenham average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 63% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 63% | 62.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 73% | 64.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 454 |
| 2023/24 | 462 |
| 2024/25 | 451 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road compares
Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road ranked 15th of 43 primary schools in Barking and Dagenham for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 45% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 73% | 5.6% | 32.5% | 454 | — |
| Godwin Primary School | 71% | 7% | 24.1% | 422 | 0.3 miles |
| Village Infants' School | — | 6.4% | 25.8% | 296 | 0.3 miles |
| William Ford CofE Junior School | 67% | 6.1% | 37.1% | 319 | 0.3 miles |
| St Peter's Catholic Primary School | 79% | 4% | 31.9% | 387 | 0.4 miles |
| Parsloes Primary School | 70% | 5.6% | 33.5% | 412 | 0.5 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 32.54%
- English as an additional language
- 68.5%
- Overall absence
- 5.6%
- Persistent absence
- 19.02%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Godwin Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Dagenham
-
Village Infants' School0.3 miles
Primary · Dagenham
-
William Ford CofE Junior School0.3 miles
Primary · Dagenham
-
St Peter's Catholic Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Dagenham
-
Parsloes Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Dagenham
Other schools in Dagenham
Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road ranks 8th of the 29 ranked primary schools in Dagenham.
- Beam Primary School Primary
- Becontree Primary School Primary
- Dorothy Barley Infants' School Primary
- Dorothy Barley Junior Academy Primary
- Five Elms Primary School Primary
- Godwin Primary School Primary
- Grafton Primary School Primary
- Henry Green Primary School Primary
- Hunters Hall Primary School Primary
- John Perry Primary School Primary
- Manor Primary School Primary
- Marsh Green Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road teach?
- Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Dagenham.
- Who is the headteacher of Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road?
- The headteacher of Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road is Miss Terina King, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road?
- Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road has 454 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road full?
- Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road has capacity for 476 pupils and 454 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road a faith school?
- No. Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road has no designated religious character.
- Does Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road as having nursery classes.
- What SEN provision does Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road have?
- The schools register lists Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 63% in 2022/23 and 73% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road compare with other schools in Barking and Dagenham?
- Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road ranked 15th of 43 primary schools in Barking and Dagenham for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 73% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 45% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's absence rate?
- Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's overall absence rate is 5.6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Thomas Arnold Primary School, Rowdowns Road's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.