Living in Chatham with children
Chatham, Medway and Kent. What the published figures say about its schools, its homes and daily life, each with its source and date. 76,956 people in 30,680 households; 34.0% of households have dependent children (Census 2021 (ONS, via NOMIS), summed over the town's output areas).
Schools
29 schools: 22 state primary, 7 state secondaryChatham on the schools map →Every school in Chatham, with inspection, league band and the last place offered
State primary schools (22)
| School | Inspection | League rank | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swingate Primary School | School remains Good (Improving) | Top 7% (4/63) in Medway | 2.247 miles (2026) |
| St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School | Good | Top 12% (7/63) in Medway | — |
| St Michael Catholic Primary and Nursery School | School remains Good | Top 13% (8/63) in Medway | — |
| St Benedict's Catholic Primary School | — | Top 15% (9/63) in Medway | — |
| Walderslade Primary School | School remains Good (Improving) | Top 16% (10/63) in Medway | 1.029 miles (2026) |
| Lordswood School | Outstanding | Top 18% (11/63) in Medway | — |
| Horsted Junior School | School remains Good | Top 21% (13/63) in Medway | 1.532 miles (2026) |
| Balfour Junior School | School remains Good | Top 27% (17/63) in Medway | 0.791 miles (2026) |
| St Mary's Island Church of England (Aided) Primary School | School remains Good | Top 32% (20/63) in Medway | — |
| Oaklands School | School remains Good | Top 39% (24/63) in Medway | — |
| All Saints Church of England Primary School | School remains Good | Top 45% (28/63) in Medway | — |
| Kingfisher Community Primary School | Good | Top 48% (30/63) in Medway | — |
| New Road Primary School | School remains Good | (32/63) in Medway | — |
| Tunbury Primary School | Good | (303/436) in Kent | — |
| Maundene School | Good | (44/63) in Medway | — |
| Phoenix Primary School | Good | (57/63) in Medway | — |
| Luton Primary School | Good | (60/63) in Medway | — |
| New Horizons Children's Academy | School remains Good | (61/63) in Medway | — |
| Wayfield Primary School | Ofsted report card | (62/63) in Medway | 6.195 miles (2026) |
| Greenvale Primary School | Good | — | 0.47 miles (2026) |
| Horsted Infant School | Good | — | — |
| St John's Church of England Infant School | Good | — | — |
State secondary schools (7)
| School | Inspection | League rank | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Pitt Grammar School | Outstanding | Top 24% (4/17) in Medway | 2.064 miles (2026) |
| Chatham Grammar | School remains Good | Top 30% (5/17) in Medway | 17.939 miles (2026) |
| Holcombe Grammar School | School remains Good | Top 36% (6/17) in Medway | 22.962 miles (2026) |
| The Victory Academy | Good | (11/17) in Medway | 1.992 miles (2026) |
| Waterfront UTC | Good | (14/17) in Medway | — |
| Greenacre School | Inadequate | (16/17) in Medway | — |
| Walderslade School | Inadequate | (17/17) in Medway | — |
Rank: the school's place among its council's schools of the same phase, from three years of DfE results (kinplace's league table, how it is worked out); schools with hidden or no results get none. Inspections: Ofsted and ISI. Last place offered: the council's offer-day figures. School register: DfE Get Information about Schools, updated 17 October 2026.
Homes and prices
Typical sale, last 12 months (Land Registry)The middle sale of each type, September 2025 to August 2026: half sold for more, half for less (85 detached, 211 semi-detached, 301 terraced, 77 flat or maisonette sales). Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, standard sales inside the ONS built-up area outline of Chatham. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Look up a home in Chatham →Getting around
Stops and stations (NaPTAN), and broadband (Ofcom)Source: DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes). Straight-line distances.
Gigabit broadband can be ordered at 91% of premises, and superfast (30 Mbit/s) at 99%, on average across the 1,620 postcodes in ME5, ME4. Check the postcode you are looking at: it can differ street by street.
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, July 2025, fixed broadband coverage by postcode (an average of postcodes, not of homes).
Safety and environment
The town centre; addresses varyChildcare
Ofsted early years register; published pricesWhat Ofsted found: 2 outstanding; 1 strong or better in every area; 19 good, or expected standard; 1 requires improvement; 2 not inspected yet. A typical nursery place in this region costs about £7.58 an hour for a two-year-old.
All of them: 24 in Medway · 1 in Kent.
Sources: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections; each nursery's own fees page, read by 16 October 2026; Coram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026: average nursery price for 50 hours a week after the working-parent entitlement (paying for 20 hours), by region.
Childcare costs near you →Key dates, Medway
The next dates for families applyingApplication deadlines and offer days: Medway · Kent.
Every date, and reminders →Nearby towns
Keep Chatham in your plan beside the other towns you are weighing up, and see each school here worked out for your address and your children.Add Chatham to your plan
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. How we know · All sources.