Sandling Primary School
Ashburnham Road, Penenden Heath, Maidstone, ME14 2JG
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Head Teacher
- Miss Claire Coombes
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 421
- URN
- 118511
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01622763297
About this school
Sandling Primary School is a community primary school in Maidstone. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 421 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Sandling 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 | 61 | 62 | 60 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 62% | 77% | 67% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 8% | 8% | 10% |
| Expected standard in reading | 82% | 92% | 82% |
| Expected standard in maths | 70% | 89% | 68% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 82% | 90% | 73% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 108.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 107.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | 0.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.10 | - | - |
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 Sandling 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 | 62% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 77% | 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 | 3.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 3.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 421 |
| 2023/24 | 417 |
| 2024/25 | 416 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sandling Primary School compares
Sandling Primary School ranked 189th 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 76% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 67% | 4.3% | 6.7% | 421 | — |
| St Paul's Infant School | — | 5.9% | 22.9% | 242 | 0.5 miles |
| North Borough Junior School | 63% | 6.2% | 34.5% | 350 | 0.6 miles |
| Valley Invicta Primary School At East Borough | 70% | 3.6% | 21.8% | 445 | 1.1 miles |
| Brunswick House Primary School | 65% | 6.2% | 26% | 420 | 1.4 miles |
| Leigh Academy Bearsted | 75% | 4.8% | 11.1% | 412 | 1.4 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)
- 6.73%
- English as an additional language
- 11.5%
- Overall absence
- 4.32%
- Persistent absence
- 8.82%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Paul's Infant School0.5 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
North Borough Junior School0.6 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
Valley Invicta Primary School At East Borough1.1 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
Brunswick House Primary School1.4 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
Leigh Academy Bearsted1.4 miles
Primary · Maidstone
Other schools in Maidstone
Sandling Primary School ranks 18th of the 43 ranked primary schools in Maidstone.
- Allington Primary School Primary
- Archbishop Courtenay Primary School Primary
- Barming Primary School Primary
- Boughton Monchelsea Primary School Primary
- Brunswick House Primary School Primary
- Coxheath Primary School Primary
- East Farleigh Primary School Primary
- Greenfields Community Primary School Primary
- Harrietsham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Hollingbourne Primary School Primary
- Hunton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Jubilee Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Sandling Primary School teach?
- Sandling Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Maidstone.
- Who is the head teacher of Sandling Primary School?
- The head teacher of Sandling Primary School is Miss Claire Coombes, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Sandling Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sandling 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 Sandling Primary School?
- Sandling Primary School has 421 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Sandling Primary School full?
- Sandling Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 421 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 Sandling Primary School a faith school?
- No. Sandling Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Sandling Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Sandling Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Sandling Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 62% 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 Sandling Primary School compare with other schools in Kent?
- Sandling Primary School ranked 189th 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 76% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sandling Primary School's absence rate?
- Sandling Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.3% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sandling Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sandling 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.