Elmstead Primary School

About Elmstead Primary School

Elmstead Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained since its most recent graded inspection in 2014 and confirmed in an ungraded inspection in 2019. The school’s most informative exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2, which stands at 43%. This is notably below the Essex local authority average of 62% for the 2023/24 academic year. Within the Tendring district, Elmstead ranks 24th out of 33 primary schools on this measure, placing it in the bottom half of its local area. Nationally, the school sits in the 88th percentile, meaning roughly 12% of primary schools across England perform lower on this combined benchmark. The school’s maths and reading average scaled scores are 103 and 104 respectively, both just above the national baseline of 100, while the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in these subjects is relatively low, at 10% for maths and 17% for reading.

Looking more closely at the Ofsted breakdown, the school’s leadership and management, as well as its early years provision, were both judged Good in the 2014 graded inspection, with the early years rating later confirmed as Good in the 2019 ungraded visit. This is a step down from the school’s previous inspection in 2006, when it was rated Outstanding across all areas. In terms of individual subjects at Key Stage 2, 70% of pupils met the expected standard in both reading and writing, while 67% did so in maths. The school’s progress scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. With 19% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a slightly above-average proportion of disadvantaged children compared to the national primary average.

Elmstead Primary is a state-funded mixed school for children aged 4 to 11, with no religious character and no nursery or sixth form provision. It is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, receiving 102 applications for 30 places, with 38 first-preference applications and a 3.4 oversubscription ratio. The school offers a range of facilities including an outdoor playground, art studios, a library and a Forest School, and runs clubs such as drama, coding, choir, book club, gardening and eco club. Sports on offer include rounders, netball, dance, football, swimming, cross country and athletics. The school has a broad SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, social, emotional and mental health needs, multi-sensory impairment and physical disability. This makes it a potentially suitable choice for families in Tendring seeking a mainstream primary with strong SEND support, though the below-average combined KS2 results may be a consideration for those prioritising academic outcomes.

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