School Chooser

Meadowfield School

Special · ages 4-19MixedFoundation special school396 pupilsSixth formSittingbourneKent
School Chooser ScoreNot scoredWe don't score this type of school.
OfstedNo overall gradeLast Ofsted inspection, June 2025
Reached the expected level at 110%England 63%
Attendance86.5%England 94.8%
Pupils from low-income families55%Far more than most schools
PlacesFull396 pupils, 366 places
Pupils per teacher6.8School workforce census

Meadowfield School is a foundation special school in Sittingbourne for boys and girls aged 4 to 19. It has 396 pupils, 30 more than it has places for. About 54 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.

Swanstree Avenue, Meadowfield School, Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne, ME10 4NL01795 477788meadowfield.kent.sch.ukMrs Angela Hoare principalAll details

What Ofsted found

Ofsted's last full inspection was on 24 June 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”
Requires improvement
BehaviourOfsted calls this “behaviour and attitudes”
Good
WellbeingOfsted calls this “personal development”
Good
LeadershipOfsted calls this “leadership and management”
Requires improvement
Early years
Good
Sixth formOfsted calls this “post-16”
Requires improvement
Safeguarding
Effective
Yes
Earlier inspections (1)
DateTypeOutcome
17 April 2024UngradedSchool remains Outstanding (Concerns) - S5 Next

Results

GCSE results, summer 2025

27 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.

Average GCSE scoreOfficial name: Attainment 8
Strong pass in English and mathsOfficial name: Grade 5+ in English and maths
Standard pass in English and mathsOfficial name: Grade 4+ in English and maths
Progress from age 11-1.56In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level. (From 2018/19, the latest year there is. The government didn't work it out for the 2025 year group.)Official name: Progress 8
All GCSE measures, year by year
Measure202520242023202220192018KentEngland
Pupils at the end of Year 11272027211610
Average GCSE scoreAttainment 80.11.347.846.8
Progress from age 11Progress 8-1.56-1.43
Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths0%0%48%46%
Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths0%0%67%66%
Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score0.000.004.284.15
Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry0%0%48%41%
Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged0.3
Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged0.0
Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers0.01.3

Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025

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

Reached the expected level at 110%
England 63%
Official name: Expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Working above the expected level0%
England 8%
Official name: Higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Reading score94.0
England 105.6
Official name: Reading average scaled score
Maths score87.0
England 104.6
Official name: Maths average scaled score
Trend
Reached the expected level at 11
2017 to 2025
2017: 0%0%20172018: 0%0%20182019: 0%0%20192023: 0%0%20232024: 0%0%20242025: 0%0%2025
Since 2017: +0%
All Year 6 measures, year by year
Measure202520242023201920182017KentEngland
Pupils tested372924172313
Reached the expected level at 11Expected standard in reading, writing and maths0%0%0%0%0%0%64%63%
Working above the expected levelHigher standard in reading, writing and maths0%0%0%0%0%0%10%8%
Reading scoreReading average scaled score94.099.0105.8105.6
Maths scoreMaths average scaled score87.097.093.0104.2104.6
Grammar and spelling scoreGPS average scaled score88.0100.0104.3105.2
Expected level: readingReading expected standard0%0%0%0%0%0%
Expected level: mathsMaths expected standard0%0%0%0%0%0%
Expected level: writingWriting expected standard (teacher assessed)0%0%0%0%0%0%
Reading progressReading progress score-11.5+0.9+0.2-0.1
Maths progressMaths progress score-10.8+0.3-0.1+0.8
Expected level: low-income pupilsExpected standard, disadvantaged0%0%0%0%0%
Expected level: other pupilsExpected standard, non-disadvantaged0%0%0%0%0%

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. Every gap at this school is 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
0%0%
No gapEngland 21 pts
Reached the expected level at 11Boys vs girls
0%0%
No gapEngland 5 pts
Reached the higher level at 11Low-income pupils vs all pupils
0%0%
No gapEngland 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.

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 Kent council's admissions booklet, send it to us.

Who goes here

Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.

Pupils on roll396Census January 2026
Places366108% full
Pupils from low-income families53%55% have had free school meals at some point in the last six years
Pupils learning English5%First language is not English
Pupils getting extra support0%0 pupils with SEN support
Pupils with an EHC plan100%396 pupils with a plan
Pupils with extra funding (pupil premium)51%£230,850 extra funding in 2026/27; England 24%
Boys and girls268 / 128
White British pupils83%

Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with autism, moderate learning difficulties, physical disability, profound and multiple learning difficulties, speech, language and communication, severe learning difficulties.

To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Kent with autism provision.

The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (243), Severe learning difficulty (97), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (36), language and communications needs (12), Physical disability (7), Vision impairment (1).

How the mix of pupils has changed
Census202620252024202320222021
Pupils on roll396400408410392368
Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals53%48%44%40%39%38%
Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language5%4%4%4%4%4%
Pupils getting extra supportSEN support1%5%5%5%5%
Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans99%95%95%95%95%

Attendance and behaviour

In 2024/25 pupils were in school 86.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.

Attendance86.5%
England 94.8%
Official name: 100 minus overall absence
Pupils missing a lot of school42.2%
England 12.8%
Official name: Persistent absence
Suspensions per 100 pupils1.02024/25, no permanent exclusions
Missed without permission4.0%of school time, 2024/25
Attendance year by year
Measure2024/252023/242022/232021/222020/212018/19England
Sessions missedOverall absence13.5%11.4%12.0%12.8%22.3%9.7%5.2%
Missed with permissionAuthorised absence9.5%8.1%10.3%10.9%21.1%8.5%
Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence4.0%3.3%1.7%1.8%1.3%1.2%
Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence42.2%39.2%39.4%43.5%82.8%30.4%12.8%
SuspensionsSuspension rate1.00.70.01.30.3
Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions00000

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

Where the 27 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.

Still in education, work or training96%and stayed there for at least six months
Earlier years
Destination2022/23 leavers2021/22 leavers2020/21 leavers2019/20 leavers
Still in education, work or training96%100%93%100%
Education96%100%93%100%
Apprenticeship0%0%0%0%
Work0%0%0%0%
Not in education, work or training4%0%7%0%

Staff and money

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

Teachers58.2full-time equivalent, 59 people
Pupils per teacher6.8Pupils for every full-time teacher
Fully qualified teachers92%hold qualified teacher status
Teaching assistants129.7full-time equivalent
Average teacher pay£50,833
Teachers who left in the year18%2024/25, for any reason including retirement
Vacancies0
Sick days per teacher5.92024/25

Money

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

Spend per pupil£27,072England £32,258. Total £11m
Income per pupil£25,990England £32,367. Total £10m
Spent on teachers per pupil£10,246England £11,930
Money in reserve5%Not much put by: £527k, £1,319 per pupil. England 7%
Money in against money out-£433kit spent more than it took in this year
Where the money goes£27,072spent 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 m24012 months to June 2026, mostly violence and sexual offences
Local crime rate87 per 1,000 peopleabout the England average
Typical house price£310,000Swale
Nearest bus stop50 mThe Sittingbourne School Grounds, 19 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 schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.

Well aboveAboveIn lineBelowWell belowNot scored
SchoolTypeDistancePupilsOfstedScore
The Sittingbourne SchoolAcademy120 m1,556Good 202314Compare
Lansdowne Primary SchoolAcademy500 m415Good 202273Compare
Canterbury Road Primary SchoolCouncil580 m209Good 202456Compare
Bapchild and Tonge Church of England Primary School and NurseryChurch of England750 m252Not inspected32Compare
South Avenue Primary SchoolAcademy850 m408Good 202252Compare
VTC Independent SchoolIndependent (grammar)950 m21Not inspectedCompare
Sunny Bank Primary SchoolAcademy0.7 miles236Good 202457Compare
Highsted Grammar SchoolAcademy (grammar)0.8 miles793Good 202381Compare

Questions parents ask

Is Meadowfield School a good school?

Meadowfield School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in June 2025.

What is Meadowfield School's Ofsted rating?

Ofsted rated Meadowfield School not judged at its last full inspection on 24 June 2025.

How good are Meadowfield School's SATs results?

In summer 2025, 0% of Year 6 children reached the expected level in reading, writing and maths. Across England it was 63%. 0% went further and reached the higher level.

How many pupils does Meadowfield School have?

396 pupils aged 4 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 366 places, so it is 108% full.

What is attendance like at Meadowfield School?

Pupils were in school 86.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 42% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.

Does Meadowfield School have specialist SEND provision?

Yes. It is a special school for autism, moderate learning difficulties, physical disability, profound and multiple learning difficulties, speech, language and communication, severe learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.

Does Meadowfield School have a sixth form?

Yes.

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

Contact and details

Address
Swanstree Avenue, Meadowfield School, Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne, ME10 4NL
Telephone
01795 477788
Website
www.meadowfield.kent.sch.uk
Principal
Mrs Angela Hoare
Type of school
Foundation special school (Foundation special school, special schools)
Phase
Special school, ages 4-19, with sixth form
Gender
Mixed
Local authority
Kent
Ward
Roman
Constituency
Sittingbourne and Sheppey
Setting
Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
Opened
6 September 2004 (result of amalgamation)
URN
134783 · LAESTAB 8867072 · UKPRN 10016474
Formerly
St Thoma's School, St Bartholomew's School

Recent changes

  • New KS4 results for 2024/25

Where these figures come from