The Discovery School
Discovery Drive, Kings Hill, West Malling, ME19 4GJ
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Interim Headteacher
- Miss Tina Gobell
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 630
- Pupils on roll
- 634
- URN
- 134057
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01732847000
About this school
The Discovery School is a community primary school in West Malling. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 634 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
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
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Early years
- Outstanding
- 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 | 94 | 91 | 95 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 67% | 76% | 80% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 12% | 10% | 18% |
| Expected standard in reading | 71% | 90% | 91% |
| Expected standard in maths | 81% | 87% | 89% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 78% | 93% | 89% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 108.0 | 110.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 106.0 | 108.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.30 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +1.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.30 | - | - |
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 The Discovery 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 | 67% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 76% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 80% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 625 |
| 2023/24 | 624 |
| 2024/25 | 635 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Discovery School compares
The Discovery School ranked 58th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 87% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 80% | 5.4% | 8.4% | 634 | — |
| Kings Hill School Primary and Nursery | 63% | 4.2% | 11.2% | 472 | 0.8 miles |
| Valley Invicta Primary School At Kings Hill | 90% | 4.3% | 12.4% | 226 | 0.9 miles |
| Wateringbury Church of England Primary School | 66% | 6.9% | 25.8% | 134 | 1.5 miles |
| More Park Catholic Primary School | 72% | 3.9% | 15.3% | 183 | 1.6 miles |
| Lift St James the Great | 79% | 6.6% | 51.4% | 176 | 1.6 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)
- 8.35%
- English as an additional language
- 6.1%
- Overall absence
- 5.38%
- Persistent absence
- 12.97%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Kings Hill School Primary and Nursery0.8 miles
Primary · West Malling
-
Valley Invicta Primary School At Kings Hill0.9 miles
Primary · West Malling
-
Wateringbury Church of England Primary School1.5 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
More Park Catholic Primary School1.6 miles
Primary · West Malling
-
Lift St James the Great1.6 miles
Primary · East Malling
Other schools in West Malling
The Discovery School ranks 3rd of the 10 ranked primary schools in West Malling.
- Kings Hill School Primary and Nursery Primary
- Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- More Park Catholic Primary School Primary
- Offham Primary School Primary
- Ryarsh Primary School Primary
- Trottiscliffe Church of England Primary School Primary
- Valley Invicta Primary School At Kings Hill Primary
- Valley Invicta Primary School At Leybourne Chase Primary
- West Malling Church of England Primary School and McGinty Speech and Language Srp Primary
- The Malling School Secondary
- The Rosewood School Local authority maintained schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Discovery School teach?
- The Discovery School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in West Malling.
- Who is the interim headteacher of The Discovery School?
- The interim headteacher of The Discovery School is Miss Tina Gobell, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Discovery School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Discovery 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 The Discovery School?
- The Discovery School has 634 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is The Discovery School full?
- The Discovery School has capacity for 630 pupils and 634 on roll (101%), 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 The Discovery School a faith school?
- No. The Discovery School has no designated religious character.
- Does The Discovery School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records The Discovery School as having no nursery classes.
- How have The Discovery School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 67% in 2022/23 and 80% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Discovery School rank locally?
- The Discovery School ranked 58th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 87% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Discovery School's absence rate?
- The Discovery School's overall absence rate is 5.4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Discovery School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Discovery 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 1 July 2026.