St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School
Sea Street, St Margaret's-At-Cliffe, Dover, CT15 6SS
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Craig Ward
- Constituency
- Dover and Deal
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 171
- URN
- 118495
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01304852639
About this school
St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School is a community primary school in Dover. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 171 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 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 | 21 | 24 | 25 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 86% | 83% | 52% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 90% | 88% | 72% |
| Expected standard in maths | 100% | 92% | 68% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 90% | 83% | 68% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 111.0 | 106.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 111.0 | 106.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | +3.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +4.50 | - | - |
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 St Margaret's-at-Cliffe 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 | 86% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 83% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 52% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 3.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 189 |
| 2023/24 | 176 |
| 2024/25 | 163 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School compares
St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School ranked 340th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 24% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 87% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 52% | 3.8% | 7.4% | 171 | — |
| Langdon Primary School | 79% | 4.9% | 18.3% | 93 | 2.0 miles |
| Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England Primary School | 82% | 4.6% | 15.2% | 211 | 2.4 miles |
| Guston Church of England Primary School | — | — | — | — | 2.6 miles |
| Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School | 35% | 9% | 60.5% | 161 | 3.1 miles |
| St Richard's Catholic Primary School | 69% | 4.6% | 35.4% | 191 | 3.1 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)
- 7.36%
- English as an additional language
- 4.3%
- Overall absence
- 3.81%
- Persistent absence
- 5.84%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Langdon Primary School2.0 miles
Primary · Dover
-
Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England Primary School2.4 miles
Primary · Deal
-
Guston Church of England Primary School2.6 miles
Primary · Dover
-
Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School3.1 miles
Primary · Dover
-
St Richard's Catholic Primary School3.1 miles
Primary · Dover
Other schools in Dover
St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School ranks 14th 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
- River Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School teach?
- St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Dover.
- Who is the headteacher of St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School?
- The headteacher of St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School is Mr Craig Ward, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Margaret's-at-Cliffe 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 St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School?
- St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School has 171 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School full?
- St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 171 on roll (81%), 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 St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School a faith school?
- No. St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 86% in 2022/23 and 52% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School rank locally?
- St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School ranked 340th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 24% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 87% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School's absence rate?
- St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School's overall absence rate is 3.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Margaret's-at-Cliffe 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.