Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery
General Information
- Address: Clifford Road, Ipswich, IP4 1PJ – View on map
- Phone: 01473251605
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Cieran Dadds
- Age range: 3-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 25 families put it first for 25 places – 10 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 10 · 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 10
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: Yes
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 72
- % eligible for free school meals: 18.8%
- Pupil mix: 7 in 10 (more mixed than the Ipswich average)
- English as an additional language: 44% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 22% a year (Ipswich 14.9%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 25% moved to another school, 75% 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: <5 (a full term or more: <5)
- Teaching posts vacant or only temporarily filled during the year: <5
- Days of supply or agency teacher cover: 160
- 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
Good record 2025/26
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: 0
- Physical aggression / violence incidents: 70
- Child protection referrals: <5
- Safeguarding concerns: 300
- Racist incidents: 0
- 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
Figures may show "<5" for some schools.
2nd of 6 primary schools in Ipswich for behaviour
- #1St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich83%
- #2Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery76%
- #3St Mark's Catholic Primary School50%
- #4Rose Hill Primary40%
Click to see the full ranking
Across Suffolk: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 20 (0.4 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
- Suspensions for bullying: 14 (0.3 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 Suffolk (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: 5.8%
- Persistently absent pupils: 14.2%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 7.4%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.0%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 9 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 8 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 4 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 3 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 3 pupils
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Speech, language and communications needs: 3 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Profound and multiple learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Physical disability: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
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 2024 report
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 57% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 5% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: in line with the Ipswich average (57%)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (3-year average 49% against an expected 71%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 49%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 75% · Writing 67% · Maths 72% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 74%
- Average test scores: reading 106, maths 105
- 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
Year 6 SATs: joint 16th of 29 junior and primary schools in the area
- =14Rushmere Hall Primary School59%
- =16Castle Hill Junior School57%
- =16Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery57%
- #18Gusford Community Primary School55%
- =19Hillside Primary School53%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £5,350 (2024-25)
24th of 27 primary schools in Ipswich for spending per pupil
- #22Dale Hall Community Primary School£5,756
- #23Cliff Lane Primary School£5,455
- #24Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery£5,350
- #25Sprites Primary Academy£5,303
- #26Halifax Primary School£5,210
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)
Environment
Data received 2025/26
Accessibility
- Step-free for pupils, staff and visitors: No
- Overall accessibility: Partially
- Lifts for pupil use: No
- 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.): 70
- Pupils per device: 5:1 or more
- 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