St Mark's Catholic Primary School

Ipswich · IP2 9HN

General information Primary School · 5-11 years Who goes here 202 pupils, 17.3% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 10.9% on SEN support Behaviour Typical record Staff Awaiting data Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

FOI Transparency How openly this school shares data

Cooperative 70 /100

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St Mark's Catholic Primary School

General Information

Address: Stone Lodge Lane West, Ipswich, IP2 9HN – View on map
Phone: 01473601748
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Rosemarie Birch
Age range: 5-11 years
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 19 families put it first for 19 places – 10 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 1 of the 19 places went to families living outside the council area.
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

202 pupils out of 210 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 35
% eligible for free school meals: 17.3%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (more mixed than the Ipswich average)
English as an additional language: 36% (England 22%)

Staff

Supply and cover teaching

Classes taught mainly by supply or cover staff for half a term or more: 0 (a full term or more: 0)
Teaching posts vacant or only temporarily filled during the year: 0
Days of supply or agency teacher cover: 0
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.

Staff turnover (teachers joining and leaving) isn't available for this school yet.

Behaviour

Typical record 2025/26

About this Behaviour status

Based on real data requested under Freedom of Information, compared against other schools of the same type that have also responded - not a judgement on any single figure alone.

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: 1
Physical aggression / violence incidents: 3
Child protection referrals: <10
Safeguarding concerns: 194
Racist incidents: 5
Suspensions (fixed-term exclusions): 0
Permanent exclusions: 0
Sexual harassment or sexual violence between pupils (recorded incidents): 5 (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

See the bullying figures for every school in Ipswich →

Figures may show "<5" for some schools.

What does "<5" mean?

A figure shown as "<5" means the real number is below 5 - the standard convention for this kind of data, used to avoid identifying individual pupils. Different schools may also record and define incidents differently, so read comparisons with care.

3rd 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%
#5St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich33%

Click to see the full ranking

Behaviour ranking

Each school's score (out of 100) reflects how it compares to other schools in the area across all reported behaviour metrics — bullying, physical aggression, safeguarding referrals and racist incidents. A higher score means fewer reported incidents relative to peers. Ranked by real FOI-reported figures. Schools that have declined to provide this data sit at the bottom — refusing a legal request is treated as worse than any honestly-reported result.

Rank School Score

#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%
#5St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Ipswich33%
#6St Pancras Catholic Primary School18%

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.

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: 10.9%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.0%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 9 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 6 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 3 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 2 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 2 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 3 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Profound and multiple learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Autistic spectrum disorder: 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 –

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

Good 2023 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

Year 6 SATs results for this school haven't been added yet.

View full Ofsted inspection report

17th of 21 primary schools in Ipswich for Ofsted rating

#15St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, IpswichGood
#16St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, IpswichGood
#17St Mark's Catholic Primary SchoolGood
#18St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, IpswichGood
#19St Pancras Catholic Primary SchoolGood

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

#1St Mary's Catholic Primary School, IpswichOutstanding
#2The Oaks Primary SchoolOutstanding
#3Britannia Primary School and NurseryGood
#4Cliff Lane Primary SchoolGood
#5Dale Hall Community Primary SchoolGood
#6Halifax Primary SchoolGood
#7Handford Hall Primary SchoolGood
#8Morland Church of England Primary SchoolGood
#9Piper's Vale Primary - A Paradigm AcademyGood
#10Ranelagh Primary SchoolGood
#11Rushmere Hall Primary SchoolGood
#12Sidegate Primary SchoolGood
#13Sprites Primary AcademyGood
#14St Helen's Primary SchoolGood
#15St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, IpswichGood
#16St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, IpswichGood
#17St Mark's Catholic Primary SchoolGood
#18St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, IpswichGood
#19St Pancras Catholic Primary SchoolGood
#20The Beeches Community Primary SchoolGood
#21The Willows Primary SchoolRequires improvement

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)

Environment

Data received 2025/26

About this Environment status

Based on real information requested under Freedom of Information, covering step-free access, specialist facilities, classroom climate, and technology provision.

Accessibility

Step-free for pupils, staff and visitors: No
Overall accessibility: Mostly
Lifts for pupil use: Yes
Accessible toilets: Yes
Changing Places facility: No
Sensory room: Yes

Climate

Classrooms with air conditioning: 0%
Mechanical ventilation: No
Air cooling units: No
Shaded outdoor areas: Yes
Heatwave procedures: Yes - written procedure

Technology

Pupil devices (approx.): 110
Pupils per device: 2:1
Digital display in every classroom: Yes
Interactive whiteboards: Yes - all classrooms
1:1 pupil device programme: No
Coding / robotics equipment: No
Assistive technology for SEND pupils: No

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