St Edmund's Catholic Primary School

About St Edmund's Catholic Primary School

St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School is a small state primary in East Suffolk, part of the Suffolk local authority, and it sits near the bottom of the local rankings for schools of its type. Among 253 primary schools in the area, it ranks 205th, placing it firmly in the bottom half of the table. The top-performing peers nearby include Stratford St Mary Primary School, Somerleyton Primary School, and Wenhaston Primary School, all of which score significantly higher on the same ranking metric. With just 68 pupils on roll against a capacity of 105, the school is notably undersubscribed, though it received 17 applications for 12 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, making it technically oversubscribed with a ratio of 1.42. The school’s Roman Catholic character and its location in a rural part of Suffolk give it a distinct local identity, but its academic standing means it is not competing with the strongest performers in the area.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in July 2024, St Edmund’s was rated Good overall, with Good marks across all five categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This is consistent with its previous Good rating from 2018, though the earlier inspection gave a Requires Improvement grade for early years provision, which has since been resolved. On the key stage 2 results for 2023/24, just 30% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined, compared with a Suffolk local authority average of 58%. Only 10% achieved the higher standard in all three subjects. Individual subject scores show 60% reached the expected standard in reading and writing, but only 40% in maths. The average scaled scores were 102 in reading and 100 in maths, both close to the national baseline of 100, but the combined headline figure places the school in the bottom 50 nationally by this metric.

The school offers a solid range of facilities for its size, including a sports hall, gymnasium, playing fields, a forest school area, a sensory room, and a chapel. Sports on offer include swimming, netball, cricket, and athletics, and clubs range from art and science to coding and chess. The school’s SEND provisions cover autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health, and physical disability, which is a broad offer for a small primary. With 38.2% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with above-average disadvantage. This is a school that will suit families who value a small, faith-based setting with strong pastoral and SEND support, but who are realistic about its academic outcomes relative to other local primaries.

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