Bligh Primary School (Infants)
General Information
- Address: Bligh Way, Strood, Rochester, ME2 2XJ – View on map
- Phone: 01634336220
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Christian Markham
- Age range: 2-7 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 69 families put it first for 74 places – 9 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 9 · 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 9
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: Yes
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 65
- % eligible for free school meals: 26.0%
- Pupil mix: 6 in 10 (more mixed than the Medway average)
- English as an additional language: 25% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 16.2% a year (Medway 17.4%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 67% moved to another school, 33% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)
Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across Medway: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 3 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 3 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
- Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)
These are figures for all state primary schools in Medway, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.
Attendance
- Overall absence: 6.2%
- Persistently absent pupils: 14.7%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 13.2%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 4.0%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Speech, language and communications needs: 27 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 9 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 2 pupils
- SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 1 pupil
- Physical disability: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 3 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 2 pupils
- Multi-sensory impairment: 1 pupil
- Physical disability: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Financials
Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)