Herne Bay Junior School
Kings Road, Herne Bay, CT6 5DA
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 7 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Acting Headteacher
- Mrs Melody Wilkinson
- Constituency
- Herne Bay and Sandwich
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 500
- Pupils on roll
- 371
- URN
- 118852
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01227374608
About this school
Herne Bay Junior School is a foundation primary school in Herne Bay. It teaches children aged 7 to 11 and has 371 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 123 | 101 | 110 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 43% | 42% | 34% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 6% | 2% | 2% |
| Expected standard in reading | 60% | 63% | 56% |
| Expected standard in maths | 49% | 58% | 40% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 55% | 55% | 44% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 102.0 | 102.0 | 101.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 99.0 | 100.0 | 98.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.30 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -3.60 | - | - |
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 Herne Bay Junior 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 | 43% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 42% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 34% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 426 |
| 2023/24 | 384 |
| 2024/25 | 391 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Herne Bay Junior School compares
Herne Bay Junior School ranked 413th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 9% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 23% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 34% | 7.2% | 46.3% | 371 | — |
| Herne Bay Infant School | — | 6.7% | 41.5% | 259 | 0.0 miles |
| Hampton Primary School | 50% | 7.4% | 30.7% | 679 | 1.1 miles |
| Herne Church of England Junior School | 81% | 4.1% | 16.8% | 375 | 1.3 miles |
| Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School | — | 5.5% | 11.2% | 318 | 1.3 miles |
| Thornden Wood Primary School | 81% | 6.6% | 42.2% | 337 | 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)
- 46.29%
- English as an additional language
- 10.5%
- Overall absence
- 7.22%
- Persistent absence
- 22.71%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Herne Bay Infant School0.0 miles
Primary · Herne Bay
-
Hampton Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Herne Bay
-
Herne Church of England Junior School1.3 miles
Primary · Herne Bay
-
Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School1.3 miles
Primary · Herne Bay
-
Thornden Wood Primary School1.4 miles
Primary · Herne Bay
Other schools in Herne Bay
Herne Bay Junior School ranks 5th of the 5 ranked primary schools in Herne Bay.
- Hampton Primary School Primary
- Herne Bay Infant School Primary
- Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Herne Church of England Junior School Primary
- Reculver Church of England Primary School Primary
- Thornden Wood Primary School Primary
- Herne Bay High School Secondary
- SALT COLLEGE Other types
Common questions
- What year groups does Herne Bay Junior School teach?
- Herne Bay Junior School teaches children aged 7 to 11. It is a primary school in Herne Bay.
- Who is the acting headteacher of Herne Bay Junior School?
- The acting headteacher of Herne Bay Junior School is Mrs Melody Wilkinson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Herne Bay Junior School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Herne Bay Junior 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 Herne Bay Junior School?
- Herne Bay Junior School has 371 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 7 to 11.
- Is Herne Bay Junior School full?
- Herne Bay Junior School has capacity for 500 pupils and 371 on roll (74%), 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 Herne Bay Junior School a faith school?
- No. Herne Bay Junior School has no designated religious character.
- Does Herne Bay Junior School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Herne Bay Junior School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Herne Bay Junior School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 43% in 2022/23 and 34% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Herne Bay Junior School rank locally?
- Herne Bay Junior School ranked 413th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 9% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 23% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Herne Bay Junior School's absence rate?
- Herne Bay Junior School's overall absence rate is 7.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Herne Bay Junior School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Herne Bay Junior 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.