Tunbury Primary School
Tunbury Avenue, Walderslade, Chatham, ME5 9HY
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Ruth Austin
- Constituency
- Chatham and Aylesford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 630
- Pupils on roll
- 501
- URN
- 118493
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01634863085
About this school
Tunbury Primary School is a community primary school in Chatham. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 501 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. 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 | 88 | 88 | 87 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 72% | 64% | 57% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 7% | 6% | 3% |
| Expected standard in reading | 83% | 75% | 80% |
| Expected standard in maths | 76% | 73% | 72% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 73% | 64% | 72% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 107.0 | 106.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 104.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.80 | - | - |
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 Tunbury 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 | 72% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 64% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 57% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 587 |
| 2023/24 | 569 |
| 2024/25 | 534 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Tunbury Primary School compares
Tunbury Primary School ranked 296th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 69% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 57% | 4.6% | 13.1% | 501 | — |
| Walderslade Primary School | 77% | 5% | 14.9% | 235 | 0.7 miles |
| Lordswood School | 76% | 5.5% | 23.5% | 409 | 0.9 miles |
| Oaklands School | 70% | 6.3% | 42.6% | 444 | 0.9 miles |
| St Benedict's Catholic Primary School | 77% | 4% | 6.7% | 205 | 1.0 miles |
| St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School | — | — | — | 397 | 1.0 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)
- 13.11%
- English as an additional language
- 5.2%
- Overall absence
- 4.64%
- Persistent absence
- 8.82%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Walderslade Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Chatham
-
Lordswood School0.9 miles
Primary · Chatham
-
Oaklands School0.9 miles
Primary · Chatham
-
St Benedict's Catholic Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Chatham
-
St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Chatham
Other schools in Chatham
Tunbury Primary School ranks 12th of the 17 ranked primary schools in Chatham.
- All Saints Church of England Primary School Primary
- Balfour Junior School Primary
- Greenvale Primary School Primary
- Horsted Infant School Primary
- Horsted Junior School Primary
- Kingfisher Community Primary School Primary
- Lordswood School Primary
- Luton Primary School Primary
- Maundene School Primary
- New Horizons Children's Academy Primary
- New Road Primary School Primary
- Oaklands School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Tunbury Primary School teach?
- Tunbury Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Chatham.
- Who is the headteacher of Tunbury Primary School?
- The headteacher of Tunbury Primary School is Mrs Ruth Austin, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Tunbury Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Tunbury 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 big is Tunbury Primary School?
- Tunbury Primary School has 501 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Tunbury Primary School full?
- Tunbury Primary School has capacity for 630 pupils and 501 on roll (80%), 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 Tunbury Primary School a faith school?
- No. Tunbury Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Tunbury Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Tunbury Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Tunbury Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 72% in 2022/23 and 57% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Tunbury Primary School rank locally?
- Tunbury Primary School ranked 296th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 69% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Tunbury Primary School's absence rate?
- Tunbury Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Tunbury Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Tunbury 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.