School Chooser

Beam Primary School

Primary · ages 3-11MixedCouncil559 pupilsNursery Free breakfast clubDagenhamBarking and Dagenham
School Chooser Score
93
Well above
similar schools
Likely range 88 to 96
Out of 100. Better than 92% of the 50 schools most like it. Getting better year on year.
OfstedNo overall gradeLast Ofsted inspection, July 2025
Reached the expected level at 1176%England 63%
Attendance95.8%England 94.8%
Pupils from low-income families23%About the same as most schools in England
Places33 spare559 pupils, 592 places
Pupils per teacher15.2School workforce census

Beam Primary School is a council school in Dagenham for boys and girls aged 3 to 11. It has 559 pupils and room for 592. About 23 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. We give it 93 out of 100. That puts it well above schools like it, ahead of 92% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.

Oval Road North, Dagenham, RM10 9ED020 8270 4700beamcountyprimaryschool.co.ukMs Tracey Whittington headteacherAll details

What Ofsted found

Ofsted's last full inspection was on 2 July 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.

Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.

TeachingOfsted calls this “quality of education”
Good
BehaviourOfsted calls this “behaviour and attitudes”
Outstanding
WellbeingOfsted calls this “personal development”
Outstanding
LeadershipOfsted calls this “leadership and management”
Outstanding
Early years
Outstanding
Safeguarding
Effective
Yes
Earlier inspections (1)
DateTypeOutcome
7 November 2019UngradedSchool remains Good

Results

Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025

79 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England.

Reached the expected level at 1176%
England 63%
Official name: Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Working above the expected level18%
England 8%
Official name: Higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Reading score109.0
England 105.6
Official name: Reading average scaled score
Maths score108.0
England 104.6
Official name: Maths average scaled score
Trend
Reached the expected level at 11
2017 to 2025
2017: 88%88%20172018: 83%83%20182019: 81%81%20192023: 67%67%20232024: 77%77%20242025: 76%76%2025
Since 2017: -12%Improving overall
All Year 6 measures, year by year
Measure202520242023201920182017Barking and DagenhamEngland
Pupils tested798384838173
Reached the expected level at 11Expected standard in reading, writing and maths76%77%67%81%83%88%69%63%
Working above the expected levelHigher standard in reading, writing and maths18%13%8%27%11%22%9%8%
Reading scoreReading average scaled score109.0109.0108.0108.0109.0108.0106.5105.6
Maths scoreMaths average scaled score108.0108.0107.0107.0105.0108.0106.3104.6
Grammar and spelling scoreGPS average scaled score112.0112.0109.0111.0110.0110.0107.5105.2
Expected level: readingReading expected standard89%83%82%84%93%89%
Expected level: mathsMaths expected standard86%84%80%88%88%99%
Expected level: writingWriting expected standard (teacher assessed)81%78%68%84%89%95%
Reading progressReading progress score+1.3+3.6+3.4+4.7
Maths progressMaths progress score+1.1+2.1+0.6+4.2
Expected level: low-income pupilsExpected standard, disadvantaged70%70%56%65%73%95%
Expected level: other pupilsExpected standard, non-disadvantaged79%80%72%90%88%85%

There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.

Does every child do well here?

A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. 3 of the 4 gaps are smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.

At the end of primary school, 2025

Reached the expected level at 11Low-income pupils vs other pupils
70%79%
Gap 9 ptsEngland 21 pts
Reached the expected level at 11Boys vs girls
77%75%
Gap 2 ptsEngland 5 pts
Reached the expected level at 11Pupils learning English vs all pupils
75%76%
Gap 1 ptsEngland 4 pts
Reached the higher level at 11Low-income pupils vs all pupils
7%18%
Gap 11 ptsEngland 5 pts
First groupSecond groupEngland, each group

Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.

Getting a place

Admissions policy not published.

A few spare places515 pupils for 567 places, 2024/25
91% full

About 52 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have fallen by 7% since 2021/22, so places are getting easier to find.

Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Barking and Dagenham council's admissions booklet, send it to us.

Who goes here

Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.

Pupils on roll559Census January 2026
Places59294% full
Pupils from low-income families22%23% have had free school meals at some point in the last six years
Pupils learning English73%First language is not English
Pupils getting extra support19%107 pupils with SEN support
Pupils with an EHC plan3%15 pupils with a plan
Average class size24.522 classes, January 2026; England 25.4
Classes with more than 30 pupils0%Infant classes are capped at 30 by law; England 10%
Pupils with extra funding (pupil premium)27%£217,000 extra funding in 2026/27; England 24%
Boys and girls285 / 274
White British pupils8%

Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 21.2 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 26.4 (England 27.3).

The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (58), Autistic spectrum disorder (45), Moderate learning difficulty (7), emotional and mental health (7), Hearing impairment (3), Physical disability (1).

How the mix of pupils has changed
Census202620252024202320222021
Pupils on roll559588599606609606
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals22%21%23%24%24%20%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language73%76%76%75%76%74%
Pupils getting extra supportSEN support19%19%16%14%18%
Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans2%3%1%1%1%

Attendance and behaviour

In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.8% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.

Attendance95.8%
England 94.8%
Official name: 100 minus overall absence
Pupils missing a lot of school10.3%
England 12.8%
Official name: Persistent absence
Suspensions per 100 pupils0.02024/25, 1 permanent exclusion
Missed without permission0.6%of school time, 2024/25
Attendance year by year
Measure2024/252023/242022/232021/222020/212018/19England
Sessions missedOverall absence4.2%4.3%6.5%6.6%4.4%4.6%5.2%
Missed with permissionAuthorised absence3.7%3.7%5.9%5.9%3.5%4.0%
Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence0.6%0.6%0.6%0.7%0.9%0.6%
Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence10.3%10.0%20.8%21.5%13.1%10.7%12.8%
SuspensionsSuspension rate0.00.00.20.00.0
Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions10000

Staff and money

From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.

Teachers35.6full-time equivalent, 40 people
Pupils per teacher15.2Pupils for every full-time teacher
Fully qualified teachers95%hold qualified teacher status
Teaching assistants14.3full-time equivalent
Average teacher pay£60,253
Teachers who left in the year15%2024/25, for any reason including retirement
Vacancies0
Sick days per teacher4.02024/25

Money

From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.

Spend per pupil£9,423England £7,738. Total £5.3m
Income per pupil£7,839England £7,697. Total £4.4m
Spent on teachers per pupil£4,865England £3,480
Money in reserve-30%In the red: -£1.3m, -£2,333 per pupil. England 6%
Money in against money out-£898kit spent more than it took in this year
Where the money goes£9,423spent per pupil

Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.

The area around the school

Crimes within 500 m64812 months to June 2026, mostly violence and sexual offences
Local crime rate124 per 1,000 people36% higher than the England average
Typical house price£375,000Barking and Dagenham
Nearest bus stop160 mThames Avenue, 10 stops within 500 m

Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.

Nearby schools

The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.

Well aboveAboveIn lineBelowWell belowNot scored
SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
Newtons Primary SchoolCouncil480 m459Not inspected38Compare
Park Primary AcademyFree school500 m24Not inspectedCompare
The Leys Primary SchoolCouncil870 m377Good 202366Compare
Marsh Green Primary SchoolCouncil900 m367Good 202356Compare
William Ford CofE Junior SchoolChurch of England0.9 miles319Good 202442Compare
Village Infants' SchoolCouncil0.9 miles296Not inspectedCompare
St Peter's Catholic Primary SchoolRoman Catholic0.9 miles387Good 202383Compare
John Perry Primary SchoolCouncil1.0 miles626Good 202467Compare

Compared with schools like it

Our score compares Beam Primary School with the 50 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 50 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.

Beats92%of schools with a similar mix of pupils
Near the very top of its group. Its score of 93 is 31 points above the typical school in the group.
0Lowest of the group 4 · middle 62 · highest 99100

Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher

Of those 50 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Beam Primary School, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.

SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
Redriff Primary, City of London AcademyAcademy8.8 miles456Outstanding 202399Compare

How the score was worked out

The score is out of 100. A 93 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 93% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 88 to 96. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.

What we looked atHow much it countsAgainst schools like itEffect on the scoreBased on
Results over three years25%above
+0.21
2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 79 pupils
Ofsted inspection20%well above
+0.31
Ofsted grade, 1.2 years old
Progress pupils make20%in line
+0.04
DfE progress measure; 79 pupils
Direction of travel over five years10%well above
+0.11
results and attendance rising year on year
Attendance and behaviour10%above
+0.05
2024/25; 513 pupils
Results, allowing for the mix of pupils10%above
+0.07
Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 79 pupils
What parents say0%no data

Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.

Questions parents ask

Is Beam Primary School a good school?

Yes, going by the figures. Beam Primary School scores 93 out of 100. That is well above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 92% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 88 to 96, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been getting better over the last five years.

What is Beam Primary School's Ofsted rating?

Ofsted rated Beam Primary School not judged at its last full inspection on 2 July 2025.

How good are Beam Primary School's SATs results?

In summer 2025, 76% of Year 6 children reached the expected level in reading, writing and maths. Across England it was 63%. 18% went further and reached the higher level.

How many pupils does Beam Primary School have?

559 pupils aged 3 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 592 places, so it is 94% full.

Is Beam Primary School oversubscribed?

Probably not. 52 places were empty in 2024/25 (9% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.

What is attendance like at Beam Primary School?

Pupils were in school 95.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 10% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.

How big are the classes at Beam Primary School?

The average class had 24.5 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.

Does Beam Primary School have a breakfast club?

Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.

These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.

Contact and details

Address
Oval Road North, Dagenham, RM10 9ED
Telephone
020 8270 4700
Website
www.beamcountyprimaryschool.co.uk
Headteacher
Ms Tracey Whittington
Free breakfast club
Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
Type of school
Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
Phase
Primary school, ages 3-11, with nursery
Gender
Mixed
Local authority
Barking and Dagenham
Ward
Beam
Constituency
Dagenham and Rainham
Setting
Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
URN
101202 · LAESTAB 3012024 · UKPRN 10071309

Where these figures come from