Hillside Primary School

Ipswich · IP2 8NU

General information Primary School · 3-11 years Who goes here 402 pupils, 46.9% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 14.4% on SEN support Behaviour 6.4% absence rate Staff 33.3% turnover Financials £7,250 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Hillside Primary School

General Information

Address: Belstead Avenue, Ipswich, IP2 8NU – View on map
Phone: 01473601402
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Lucy Wass
Age range: 3-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 28 families put it first for 32 places – 9 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 9 · 2024 9 · 2025 10 · 2026 9
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: Yes

Who goes here

402 pupils out of 500 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 177
% eligible for free school meals: 46.9%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (more mixed than the Ipswich average)
English as an additional language: 54% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 33.3% a year (Ipswich 14.9%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 43% moved to another school, 57% 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.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

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: 6.4%
Persistently absent pupils: 21.0%
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

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 14.4%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.7%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 26 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 16 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 6 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 2 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 6 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 4 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 3 pupils
Severe learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Other difficulty or disability: 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 –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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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.

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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.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card June 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Achievement Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
Early years Expected standard
Leadership and governance Expected standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Requires improvement (2023). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 53% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 3% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 4 percentage points below the Ipswich average (57%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (3-year average 43% against an expected 63%)
3-year average (expected standard): 43%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 60% · Writing 72% · Maths 74% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 64%
Average test scores: reading 101, maths 102
Based on: 58 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 schoolIpswich averageEngland↗ Improving Up 23 percentage points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 4 percentage points below the Ipswich average (57%).

Year 6 SATs: joint 19th of 29 junior and primary schools in the area

=16Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery57%
#18Gusford Community Primary School55%
=19Hillside Primary School53%
=19St Helen's Primary School53%
#21Sidegate Primary School51%

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

#1St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich87%
#2St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ipswich75%
#3Cliff Lane Primary School74%
=4Halifax Primary School72%
=4St Pancras Catholic Primary School72%
#6Sprites Primary Academy71%
=7Dale Hall Community Primary School67%
=7The Oaks Primary School67%
=9Britannia Primary School and Nursery63%
=9Ravenswood Community Primary School63%
=9St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich63%
#12Handford Hall Primary School62%
#13Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy60%
=14Rose Hill Primary59%
=14Rushmere Hall Primary School59%
=16Castle Hill Junior School57%
=16Clifford Community Primary School & Nursery57%
#18Gusford Community Primary School55%
=19Hillside Primary School53%
=19St Helen's Primary School53%
#21Sidegate Primary School51%
#22The Beeches Community Primary School50%
#23Springfield Junior School49%
#24St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, Ipswich47%
#25Whitehouse Community Primary School46%
#26Piper's Vale Primary - A Paradigm Academy44%
#27Morland Church of England Primary School36%
#28The Willows Primary School35%
#29Ranelagh Primary School23%

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £7,250 (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.

4th of 27 primary schools in Ipswich for spending per pupil

#2The Willows Primary School£7,703
#3Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy£7,448
#4Hillside Primary School£7,250
#5Ranelagh Primary School£7,054
#6Morland Church of England Primary School£6,923

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

#1Piper's Vale Primary - A Paradigm Academy£8,624
#2The Willows Primary School£7,703
#3Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy£7,448
#4Hillside Primary School£7,250
#5Ranelagh Primary School£7,054
#6Morland Church of England Primary School£6,923
#7Sidegate Primary School£6,509
#8Rushmere Hall Primary School£6,450
#9St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, Ipswich£6,448
#10Whitehouse Community Primary School£6,293
#11St Pancras Catholic Primary School£6,291
#12St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich£6,276
#13Gusford Community Primary School£6,241
#14Handford Hall Primary School£6,204
#15Rose Hill Primary£6,200
#16St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ipswich£6,170
#17The Beeches Community Primary School£6,050
#18St Helen's Primary School£6,046
#19Ravenswood Community Primary School£5,966
#20St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich£5,912
#21The Oaks Primary School£5,822
#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
#27Britannia Primary School and Nursery£4,758

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

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