River Primary School

Dover · CT17 0PP

General information Primary School · 4-11 years Who goes here 384 pupils, 20.3% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted and results

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN Resourced provision · 15.9% on SEN support Behaviour Typical record Staff 10.2% turnover Financials £6,545 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

FOI Transparency How openly this school shares data

Cooperative 70 /100

Get an email when there's news about this school, such as new figures from our Freedom of Information requests or a new Ofsted report.

Notify me

Your email address

Leave this empty

We'll email you a link to confirm first. Your address is only used for news about this school, and every email has a link to stop them. Privacy

River Primary School

General Information

Address: Lewisham Road, River, Dover, CT17 0PP – View on map
Phone: 01304822516
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Victoria Alliston
Age range: 4-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 57 families put it first for 60 places – 10 for every 10 places. 95% of them were offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 11 · 2024 10 · 2025 9 · 2026 10
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

384 pupils out of 427 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 78
% eligible for free school meals: 20.3%
Pupil mix: 2 in 10 (less mixed than the Dover average)
English as an additional language: 6% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 10.2% a year (Dover 13.6%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 61% moved to another school, 39% 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.

Supply and cover teaching

Classes taught mainly by supply or cover staff for half a term or more: 0 (a full term or more: 0)
Teaching posts vacant or only temporarily filled during the year: 1
Days of supply or agency teacher cover: 0
Data year: 2025/26 (from the school, under Freedom of Information)

Government figures only count teachers on contracts of 28 days or more, so a class covered by a run of supply teachers doesn't show up in them – which is why we ask schools directly.

Behaviour

Typical record 2025/26

About this Behaviour status

Based on real data requested under Freedom of Information, compared against other schools of the same type that have also responded - not a judgement on any single figure alone.

Reading the numbers: higher figures below often mean a school records thoroughly and takes concerns seriously, rather than more incidents happening. A school reporting unusually low figures sometimes has a reporting gap rather than a problem-free intake. If a figure stands out, it's worth asking the school how it records.

Data year: 2025/26
Bullying incidents: <5
Physical aggression / violence incidents: <5
Child protection referrals: 3
Safeguarding concerns: 738
Racist incidents: <5
Suspensions (fixed-term exclusions): <5
Permanent exclusions: 0
Sexual harassment or sexual violence between pupils (recorded incidents): 0 (led to a suspension or exclusion: 0; referred to social care or police: 0) – a higher number can mean a school takes reports seriously and records them carefully

See the bullying figures for every school in Dover →

Figures may show "<5" for some schools.

What does "<5" mean?

A figure shown as "<5" means the real number is below 5 - the standard convention for this kind of data, used to avoid identifying individual pupils. Different schools may also record and define incidents differently, so read comparisons with care.

8th of 12 primary schools in Dover for behaviour

#6Sandown School51%
#7Hornbeam Primary School49%
#8River Primary School49%
#9Eastry Church of England Primary School36%
#10Northbourne Church of England Primary School25%

Click to see the full ranking

Behaviour ranking

Each school's score (out of 100) reflects how it compares to other schools in the area across all reported behaviour metrics — bullying, physical aggression, safeguarding referrals and racist incidents. A higher score means fewer reported incidents relative to peers. Ranked by real FOI-reported figures. Schools that have declined to provide this data sit at the bottom — refusing a legal request is treated as worse than any honestly-reported result.

Rank School Score

#1St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School87%
#2Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School82%
#3Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England Primary School69%
#4Green Park Community Primary School62%
#5Lydden Primary School55%
#6Sandown School51%
#7Hornbeam Primary School49%
#8River Primary School49%
#9Eastry Church of England Primary School36%
#10Northbourne Church of England Primary School25%
#11Whitfield Aspen School20%
#12Sholden Church of England Primary School15%

Across Kent: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 21 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
Suspensions for bullying: 32 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 1 (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 Kent (the council area this school is in), 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: 4.1%
Persistently absent pupils: 7.7%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

Resourced provision for Speech, language and communication 12 places · 12 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 15.9%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.9%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 18 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 14 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 14 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 7 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 5 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 5 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

Be the first to review — win £100 of books for your school Every honest review enters you into our prize draw

Behaviour

–

Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

–

Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

–

Would recommend –

This score reflects how openly the school responded to our Freedom of Information request. Schools that withhold information are rated lower — even the act of hiding data tells parents something about a school’s openness.

Response: Full response (+60)
Timeliness: Response date not recorded (+10)
Optional data: No optional data (+0)

Exemplary (80–100) · Cooperative (60–79) · Reluctant (40–59) · Obstructive (20–39) · Opaque (0–19)

Educational Attainment

No overall grade given 2025 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted stopped giving single overall grades for a period between September 2024 and November 2025 - this school's most recent inspection falls in that window, so there's no single rating to show, even though it was inspected. The full report (linked below) still has the detail.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 62% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 3% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 4 percentage points above the Dover average (59%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (3-year average 63% against an expected 60%)
3-year average (expected standard): 63%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 87% · Writing 75% · Maths 70% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 66%
Average test scores: reading 107, maths 102
Based on: 61 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

SATs results over time

This schoolDover averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 4 percentage points above the Dover average (59%).

Year 6 SATs: 19th of 37 junior and primary schools in the area

#17Eastry Church of England Primary School64%
#18Preston Primary School63%
#19River Primary School62%
#20Vale View Community School60%
#21Hornbeam Primary School58%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

=1Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England Primary School82%
=1Shepherdswell Church of England Primary School82%
#3Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School81%
#4Northbourne Church of England Primary School80%
#5Langdon Primary School79%
#6Wingham Primary School77%
#7Lydden Primary School75%
=8Sandwich Junior School73%
=8Sholden Church of England Primary School73%
#10St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Aylesham71%
#11St Martin's School70%
=12Deal Parochial Church of England Primary School69%
=12St Mary's Catholic Primary School69%
=12St Richard's Catholic Primary School69%
#15Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School68%
#16Barton Junior School66%
#17Eastry Church of England Primary School64%
#18Preston Primary School63%
#19River Primary School62%
#20Vale View Community School60%
#21Hornbeam Primary School58%
#22White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School57%
#23Ash Cartwright and Kelsey Church of England Primary School54%
#24Priory Fields School53%
#25St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School52%
=26Capel-le-Ferne Primary School50%
=26Sandown School50%
#28The Downs Church of England Primary School48%
=29Aycliffe Community Primary School46%
=29Whitfield Aspen School46%
#31Charlton Church of England Primary School45%
#32Warden House Primary School42%
=33Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School35%
=33Green Park Community Primary School35%
#35Goodnestone Church of England Primary School33%
#36Worth Primary School14%
#37Nonington Church of England Primary School0%

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £6,545 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

27th of 36 primary schools in Dover for spending per pupil

#25Sandown School£6,563
#26Wingham Primary School£6,562
#27River Primary School£6,545
#28Charlton Church of England Primary School£6,490
#29Shepherdswell Church of England Primary School£6,403

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Goodnestone Church of England Primary School£12,500
#2Whitfield Aspen School£12,207
#3Aycliffe Community Primary School£11,522
#4Nonington Church of England Primary School£10,933
#5St Mary's Catholic Primary School£10,006
#6Worth Primary School£9,800
#7Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School£8,581
#8White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School£8,572
#9Lydden Primary School£8,427
#10Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School£8,250
#11Eastry Church of England Primary School£8,133
#12Langdon Primary School£7,885
#13Sholden Church of England Primary School£7,736
#14Deal Parochial Church of England Primary School£7,498
#15Green Park Community Primary School£7,309
#16Ash Cartwright and Kelsey Church of England Primary School£7,209
#17St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School£7,190
#18Hornbeam Primary School£7,102
#19Priory Fields School£6,938
#20Preston Primary School£6,885
#21The Downs Church of England Primary School£6,855
#22St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Aylesham£6,822
#23Northbourne Church of England Primary School£6,763
#24Capel-le-Ferne Primary School£6,649
#25Sandown School£6,563
#26Wingham Primary School£6,562
#27River Primary School£6,545
#28Charlton Church of England Primary School£6,490
#29Shepherdswell Church of England Primary School£6,403
#30Warden House Primary School£6,298
#31Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School£6,227
#32St Martin's School£5,866
#33Vale View Community School£5,835
#34St Richard's Catholic Primary School£5,734
#35Kingsdown and Ringwould Church of England Primary School£5,706
#36Aylesham Primary School£3,934

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

Environment

Data received 2025/26

About this Environment status

Based on real information requested under Freedom of Information, covering step-free access, specialist facilities, classroom climate, and technology provision.

Accessibility

Step-free for pupils, staff and visitors: No
Overall accessibility: Mostly
Lifts for pupil use: Yes
Accessible toilets: Yes
Changing Places facility: No
Sensory room: No

Climate

Classrooms with air conditioning: 0%
Mechanical ventilation: No
Air cooling units: No
Shaded outdoor areas: Yes
Heatwave procedures: Yes - informal arrangements

Technology

Pupil devices (approx.): 140
Digital display in every classroom: Yes
Interactive whiteboards: Yes - all classrooms
1:1 pupil device programme: No
Coding / robotics equipment: Yes
Assistive technology for SEND pupils: No

Have you rated River Primary School yet? Your experience helps other parents.

Rate this school