Southwold Primary School

Hackney · E5 9NL

General information Primary School · 3-11 years Who goes here 341 pupils, 52.7% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted: Outstanding

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 17.6% on SEN support Behaviour 5.6% absence rate Staff 25.1% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

We haven't asked this school for its behaviour and staffing figures yet. Sign up to tell us you'd like them, and we'll email you when they arrive.

Notify me

Your email address

Leave this empty

We'll email you a link to confirm first. Your address is only used for news about this school, and every email has a link to stop them. Privacy

Southwold Primary School

General Information

Address: Detmold Road, Clapton, Hackney, E5 9NL – View on map
Phone: 02088065201
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Stephen O'Brien
Age range: 3-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 30 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 10 · 2025 8 · 2026 9
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: Yes

Who goes here

341 pupils out of 430 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 175
% eligible for free school meals: 52.7%
Pupil mix: 9 in 10 (more mixed than the Hackney average)
English as an additional language: 45% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 25.1% a year (Hackney 21.1%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 56% moved to another school, 44% 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 Hackney: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 2 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 5 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (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 Hackney, 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: 5.6%
Persistently absent pupils: 18.4%
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: 17.6%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 4.1%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 39 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 8 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 6 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 5 pupils
Hearing impairment: 1 pupil

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 6 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 6 pupils
Profound and multiple learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Social, emotional and mental health: 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 –

Be the first to review — win £100 of books for your school Every honest review enters you into our prize draw

Behaviour

–

Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

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.

–

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.

–

Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Outstanding 2019 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 91% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 32% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 14 percentage points above the Hackney average (78%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well above (3-year average 90% against an expected 60%)
3-year average (expected standard): 90%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 96% · Writing 91% · Maths 94% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 94%
Average test scores: reading 113, maths 111
Based on: 47 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 schoolHackney averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 14 percentage points above the Hackney average (78%).

Year 6 SATs: 3rd of 50 junior and primary schools in the area

#1Simon Marks Jewish Primary School100%
#2Mossbourne Riverside Academy92%
#3Southwold Primary School91%
=4Grasmere Primary School90%
=4Northwold Primary School90%

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

#1Simon Marks Jewish Primary School100%
#2Mossbourne Riverside Academy92%
#3Southwold Primary School91%
=4Grasmere Primary School90%
=4Northwold Primary School90%
#6Gayhurst Community School88%
=7Orchard Primary School87%
=7The Olive School, Hackney87%
#9Mossbourne Parkside Academy86%
=10Grazebrook Primary School85%
=10Kingsmead Primary School85%
#12Hoxton Garden Primary84%
=13Daubeney Primary School83%
=13St Monica's Catholic Primary School83%
=13William Patten Primary School83%
=16St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School82%
=16St. Paul's With St. Michael's CofE Primary School82%
=18Betty Layward Primary School81%
=18Hackney New Primary School81%
=20Lubavitch Girls Primary School80%
=20St Matthias Church of England Primary School80%
=22London Fields Primary School79%
=22Rushmore Primary School79%
=22Thomas Fairchild Community School79%
=25Halley House School78%
=25Mandeville Primary School78%
=27Benthal Primary School77%
=27St John of Jerusalem Church of England Primary School77%
=29Lauriston School75%
=29Sebright School75%
#31Queensbridge Primary School73%
=32Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School72%
=32Jubilee Primary School72%
=32Shacklewell Primary School72%
=32Woodberry Down Community Primary School72%
#36Springfield Community Primary School71%
=37Morningside Primary School70%
=37Princess May Primary School70%
=39Berger Primary School69%
=39Millfields Community School69%
=39St John and St James CofE Primary School69%
#42Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary School68%
#43Harrington Hill Primary School66%
#44Shoreditch Park Primary School63%
=45Nightingale Primary School61%
=45St Scholastica's Catholic Primary School61%
#47Parkwood Primary School59%
#48Gainsborough Primary School57%
#49Holmleigh Primary School52%
#50Lubavitch Boys' Primary School46%

View full Ofsted inspection report

13th of 43 primary schools in Hackney for Ofsted rating

#11Shacklewell Primary SchoolOutstanding
#12Shoreditch Park Primary SchoolOutstanding
#13Southwold Primary SchoolOutstanding
#14Springfield Community Primary SchoolOutstanding
#15St John and St James CofE Primary SchoolOutstanding

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Gayhurst Community SchoolOutstanding
#2Grazebrook Primary SchoolOutstanding
#3Hackney New Primary SchoolOutstanding
#4Kingsmead Primary SchoolOutstanding
#5Mandeville Primary SchoolOutstanding
#6Morningside Primary SchoolOutstanding
#7Mossbourne Riverside AcademyOutstanding
#8Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary SchoolOutstanding
#9Queensbridge Primary SchoolOutstanding
#10Sebright SchoolOutstanding
#11Shacklewell Primary SchoolOutstanding
#12Shoreditch Park Primary SchoolOutstanding
#13Southwold Primary SchoolOutstanding
#14Springfield Community Primary SchoolOutstanding
#15St John and St James CofE Primary SchoolOutstanding
#16St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary SchoolOutstanding
#17St. Paul's With St. Michael's CofE Primary SchoolOutstanding
#18William Patten Primary SchoolOutstanding
#19Benthal Primary SchoolGood
#20Berger Primary SchoolGood
#21Betty Layward Primary SchoolGood
#22Daubeney Primary SchoolGood
#23Gainsborough Primary SchoolGood
#24Halley House SchoolGood
#25Harrington Hill Primary SchoolGood
#26Holy Trinity Church of England Primary SchoolGood
#27Hoxton Garden PrimaryGood
#28Jubilee Primary SchoolGood
#29Lauriston SchoolGood
#30Lubavitch Girls Primary SchoolGood
#31Millfields Community SchoolGood
#32Nightingale Primary SchoolGood
#33Northwold Primary SchoolGood
#34Parkwood Primary SchoolGood
#35Princess May Primary SchoolGood
#36Rushmore Primary SchoolGood
#37Simon Marks Jewish Primary SchoolGood
#38St John of Jerusalem Church of England Primary SchoolGood
#39St Matthias Church of England Primary SchoolGood
#40St Monica's Catholic Primary SchoolGood
#41St Scholastica's Catholic Primary SchoolGood
#42Thomas Fairchild Community SchoolGood
#43Woodberry Down Community Primary SchoolGood

Financials

Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.

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

Have you rated Southwold Primary School yet? Your experience helps other parents.

Rate this school