Long Mead Community Primary School
Waveney Road, Tonbridge, TN10 3JU
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 2 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Karen Follows
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Tonbridge
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 143
- URN
- 118575
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01732350601
About this school
Long Mead Community Primary School is a foundation primary school in Tonbridge. It teaches children aged 2 to 11 and has 143 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Long Mead Community 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. 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
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 30 | 18 | 19 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 50% | 44% | 47% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 6% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 53% | 67% | 68% |
| Expected standard in maths | 73% | 72% | 63% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 47% | 56% | 53% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 105.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 105.0 | 109.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.40 | - | - |
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 Long Mead Community 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 | 50% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 44% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 47% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 128 |
| 2023/24 | 120 |
| 2024/25 | 122 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Long Mead Community Primary School compares
Long Mead Community Primary School ranked 367th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 18% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 26% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 47% | 7% | 56.6% | 143 | — |
| St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School | 86% | 4.9% | 12.3% | 367 | 0.3 miles |
| Cage Green Primary School | 57% | 5.4% | 50% | 208 | 0.6 miles |
| Woodlands Primary School | 74% | 5.1% | 25.1% | 540 | 1.0 miles |
| Slade Primary School and Attached Unit for Children with Hearing Impairment | 64% | 4.7% | 16.3% | 419 | 1.0 miles |
| Stocks Green Primary School | 56% | 3.6% | 6.6% | 217 | 1.1 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)
- 56.6%
- English as an additional language
- 13.1%
- Overall absence
- 6.98%
- Persistent absence
- 23.15%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Tonbridge
-
Cage Green Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Tonbridge
-
Woodlands Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Tonbridge
-
Slade Primary School and Attached Unit for Children with Hearing Impairment1.0 miles
Primary · Tonbridge
-
Stocks Green Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Tonbridge
Other schools in Tonbridge
Long Mead Community Primary School ranks 19th of the 22 ranked primary schools in Tonbridge.
- Bishop Chavasse Primary School Primary
- Brenchley and Matfield Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cage Green Primary School Primary
- Capel Primary School Primary
- East Peckham Primary School Primary
- Hadlow Primary School Primary
- Hildenborough Church of England Primary School Primary
- Leigh Academy Horsmonden Primary
- Leigh Academy Marden Primary
- Leigh Academy Paddock Wood Primary
- Leigh Primary School Primary
- Penshurst Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Long Mead Community Primary School teach?
- Long Mead Community Primary School teaches children aged 2 to 11. It is a primary school in Tonbridge.
- Who is the headteacher of Long Mead Community Primary School?
- The headteacher of Long Mead Community Primary School is Mrs Karen Follows, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Long Mead Community Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Long Mead Community 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 Long Mead Community Primary School?
- Long Mead Community Primary School has 143 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 2 to 11.
- Is Long Mead Community Primary School full?
- Long Mead Community Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 143 on roll (68%), 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 Long Mead Community Primary School a faith school?
- No. Long Mead Community Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Long Mead Community Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Long Mead Community Primary School as having nursery classes.
- How have Long Mead Community Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 50% in 2022/23 and 47% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Long Mead Community Primary School compare with other schools in Kent?
- Long Mead Community Primary School ranked 367th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 18% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 26% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Long Mead Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Long Mead Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Long Mead Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Long Mead Community 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.