River Primary School
Lewisham Road, River, Dover, CT17 0PP
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Victoria Alliston
- Federation
- Lydden and River Primary Schools Federation
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication
- Constituency
- Dover and Deal
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 427
- Pupils on roll
- 384
- URN
- 118393
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01304822516
About this school
River Primary School is a community primary school in Dover. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 384 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected River Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
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 | 61 | 61 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 60% | 67% | 62% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 11% | 3% |
| Expected standard in reading | 79% | 80% | 87% |
| Expected standard in maths | 69% | 70% | 70% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 73% | 69% | 66% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 104.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.50 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.20 | - | - |
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 River Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 60% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 67% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 62% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 413 |
| 2023/24 | 408 |
| 2024/25 | 394 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How River Primary School compares
River Primary School ranked 256th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 45% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 62% | 4.1% | 22.3% | 384 | — |
| Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School | 81% | 4.3% | 20% | 154 | 0.7 miles |
| White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School | 57% | 8.1% | 71.6% | 277 | 1.0 miles |
| Green Park Community Primary School | 35% | 6.2% | 56.1% | 374 | 1.0 miles |
| Shatterlocks Infant and Nursery School | — | 6.8% | 47.2% | 138 | 1.0 miles |
| Whitfield Aspen School | 46% | 6.4% | 37.8% | 662 | 1.3 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)
- 22.34%
- English as an additional language
- 4.6%
- Overall absence
- 4.05%
- Persistent absence
- 7.74%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Dover
-
White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School1.0 miles
Primary · Dover
-
Green Park Community Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Dover
-
Shatterlocks Infant and Nursery School1.0 miles
Primary · Dover
-
Whitfield Aspen School1.3 miles
Primary · Dover
Other schools in Dover
River Primary School ranks 9th of the 20 ranked primary schools in Dover.
- Aycliffe Community Primary School Primary
- Barton Junior School Primary
- Charlton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School Primary
- Green Park Community Primary School Primary
- Guston Church of England Primary School Primary
- Langdon Primary School Primary
- Lydden Primary School Primary
- Nonington Church of England Primary School Primary
- Priory Fields School Primary
- Selsted Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does River Primary School teach?
- River Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Dover.
- Who is the headteacher of River Primary School?
- The headteacher of River Primary School is Mrs Victoria Alliston, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has River Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected River Primary School, 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 River Primary School?
- River Primary School has 384 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is River Primary School full?
- River Primary School has capacity for 427 pupils and 384 on roll (90%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is River Primary School a faith school?
- No. River Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does River Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records River Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Is River Primary School part of an academy trust?
- River Primary School is part of the Lydden and River Primary Schools Federation federation. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does River Primary School have?
- The schools register lists River Primary School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have River Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 60% in 2022/23 and 62% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does River Primary School compare with other schools in Kent?
- River Primary School ranked 256th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 45% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is River Primary School's absence rate?
- River Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.1% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are River Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, River Primary School'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 30 June 2026.