Palace Wood Primary School
Ash Grove, Allington, Maidstone, ME16 0AB
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Clare Cairns
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 417
- URN
- 135106
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01622750084
About this school
Palace Wood Primary School is a community primary school in Maidstone. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 417 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 15 September 2022, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 60 | 62 | 64 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 70% | 56% | 69% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 11% | 8% |
| Expected standard in reading | 80% | 68% | 75% |
| Expected standard in maths | 80% | 68% | 80% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 65% | 56% | 69% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 104.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | +0.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.30 | - | - |
| 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 Palace Wood 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 | 70% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 56% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 69% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 417 |
| 2023/24 | 422 |
| 2024/25 | 426 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Palace Wood Primary School compares
Palace Wood Primary School ranked 166th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 63% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 69% | 4.9% | 18.5% | 417 | — |
| Allington Primary School | 83% | 3.7% | 9% | 466 | 0.3 miles |
| St Francis' Catholic Primary School, Maidstone | 46% | 4.2% | 14.1% | 402 | 0.7 miles |
| Brunswick House Primary School | 65% | 6.2% | 26% | 420 | 0.7 miles |
| West Borough Primary School | 47% | 5.3% | 25.9% | 456 | 1.0 miles |
| Maidstone, St Michael's Church of England Junior School | 69% | 4.4% | 26% | 180 | 1.2 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)
- 18.54%
- English as an additional language
- 12.9%
- Overall absence
- 4.85%
- Persistent absence
- 11.58%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Allington Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
St Francis' Catholic Primary School, Maidstone0.7 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
Brunswick House Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
West Borough Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Maidstone
-
Maidstone, St Michael's Church of England Junior School1.2 miles
Primary · Maidstone
Other schools in Maidstone
Palace Wood Primary School ranks 16th 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 year groups does Palace Wood Primary School teach?
- Palace Wood Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Maidstone.
- Who is the headteacher of Palace Wood Primary School?
- The headteacher of Palace Wood Primary School is Mrs Clare Cairns, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Palace Wood Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Palace Wood 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 Palace Wood Primary School?
- Palace Wood Primary School has 417 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Palace Wood Primary School full?
- Palace Wood Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 417 on roll (99%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Palace Wood Primary School a faith school?
- No. Palace Wood Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Palace Wood Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Palace Wood Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Palace Wood Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 70% in 2022/23 and 69% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Palace Wood Primary School rank locally?
- Palace Wood Primary School ranked 166th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 63% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Palace Wood Primary School's absence rate?
- Palace Wood Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.9% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Palace Wood Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Palace Wood 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 1 July 2026.