Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School
Rydal Drive, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 9SU
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Laura Johnson
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- SEN provision
- PD - Physical Disability
- Constituency
- Tunbridge Wells
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 194
- URN
- 118468
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01892520114
About this school
Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School is a community primary school in Tunbridge Wells. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 194 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 63% | 60% | 67% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 3% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 83% | 97% | 87% |
| Expected standard in maths | 70% | 93% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 80% | 90% | 83% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 108.0 | 108.0 | 109.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 107.0 | 106.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.40 | - | - |
| 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 Bishops Down Primary and Nursery 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 | 63% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 60% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 67% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 233 |
| 2023/24 | 224 |
| 2024/25 | 200 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School compares
Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School ranked 198th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 57% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 67% | 4.8% | 17% | 194 | — |
| Rusthall St Paul's CofE Primary School | 65% | 6.4% | 45.1% | 108 | 0.7 miles |
| The Wells Free School | 68% | 4.3% | 18.9% | 213 | 0.8 miles |
| Southborough CofE Primary School | 73% | 5.3% | 15.5% | 631 | 1.1 miles |
| St Augustine's Catholic Primary School | 56% | 4.7% | 20.1% | 241 | 1.2 miles |
| St Barnabas CofE VA Primary School | 67% | 5.7% | 34% | 201 | 1.2 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 17.03%
- English as an additional language
- 17%
- Overall absence
- 4.82%
- Persistent absence
- 8.48%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Rusthall St Paul's CofE Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Tunbridge Wells
-
The Wells Free School0.8 miles
Primary · Tunbridge Wells
-
Southborough CofE Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Tunbridge Wells
-
St Augustine's Catholic Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · Tunbridge Wells
-
St Barnabas CofE VA Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · Tunbridge Wells
Other schools in Tunbridge Wells
Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School ranks 15th of the 23 ranked primary schools in Tunbridge Wells.
- Bidborough Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Broadwater Down Primary School Primary
- Claremont Primary School Primary
- Fordcombe Church of England Primary School Primary
- Frant Church of England Primary School Primary
- Groombridge St Thomas' Church of England Primary School Primary
- Lamberhurst St Mary's CofE (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School Primary
- Langton Green Primary School Primary
- Pembury School Primary
- Rusthall St Paul's CofE Primary School Primary
- Skinners' Kent Primary School Primary
- Skinners' Temple Grove Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School teach?
- Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Tunbridge Wells.
- Who is the headteacher of Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School?
- The headteacher of Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School is Mrs Laura Johnson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bishops Down Primary and Nursery 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 big is Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School?
- Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School has 194 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School full?
- Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School has capacity for 210 pupils and 194 on roll (92%), 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 Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School a faith school?
- No. Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School has no designated religious character.
- Does Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School as having nursery classes.
- What SEN provision does Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School have?
- The schools register lists Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School's special educational needs provision as: PD - Physical Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School'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 67% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School rank locally?
- Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School ranked 198th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 57% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School's absence rate?
- Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School's overall absence rate is 4.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bishops Down Primary and Nursery School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bishops Down Primary and Nursery 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.