Primary school in Lowestoft, Suffolk
St Margaret's Primary Academy
Church Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 4JF
Ofsted
Ofsted report card published, on 21 April 2026.
The report card grades separate areas of the school's work. Ofsted does not combine them into one overall judgement.
- Current published outcome
- Report card — no overall grade
- Last overall grade in this dataset
- Not stored — this dataset keeps the latest inspection, which has no overall grade
- Days since inspection
- 164 days
- Framework era
- Current framework (no overall grade)
These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.
- Safeguarding
- Met
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
The report-card scale is Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention and Urgent improvement. Safeguarding is graded Met or Not met. These are separate judgements, not a league table or an overall score. How Ofsted's current grades work.
Key stage 2 results 2024/25
Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Reached the higher standard
Average reading score
Average maths score
On the headline measure this school is in the upper half of state-funded primaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top quarter.
There are no progress measures for primary schools any more. They were calculated from a key stage 1 baseline, and statutory key stage 1 tests ended in 2023, so nothing has been published since. That makes attainment the only official measure — and attainment tracks intake closely, which is why the comparison against similar schools above is the more useful of the two lines.
Getting a place 2026/27 entry
About as many first choices as places. Of the 36 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.
- Places offered
- 37
- Named it first choice
- 36
- First choices per place
- 0.97
- First choices offered a place
- 100%
for entry into Reception
England average 1.00
England 95.1%
Demand has been broadly steady over three years.
These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.
Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 364
- Places
- 420
- How full
- 87% full — 364 of 420 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 191 / 173
- Overall absence
- 7%
- Persistently absent
- 23%
primary schools average 5.2%
primary schools average 12.8% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 52%
- English as an additional language
- 11%
- With an EHC plan
- 2%
- On SEN support
- 18%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
School funding 2025-26 financial year
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.
- Evidence found
- Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
- Source coverage
- DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
- What this means
- The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
- What this does not mean
- The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.
Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.
Roads and getting there
Road casualties within 500m
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 1
- All reported collisions
- 22
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 2
- Busiest road nearby
- C
England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years
England average 24.2 over five years
2,950 vehicles a day (2019)
Public transport
- Bus stops within 500m
- 20
- Nearest station
- Entrance
England average 11.9
1.3 km away — railway station
Traffic volume is the context the collision count needs: a school beside a major road will record more collisions than one on a quiet street without being any less well run.
Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.
The area around the school
Among the most deprived fifth of England.
Among the most deprived fifth of England for children in low-income families.
Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £240,000
- Typical range
- £195,500 to £317,500
- Detached
- £317,500
- Semi-detached
- £230,000
- Terraced
- £188,500
- Flat
- £107,500
postcode sector NR32 4 · 409 sales
middle half of sales
Homes around this school are close to the England average.
Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.
Who lives there
- Adults with a degree
- 17%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 23%
- In professional or managerial work
- 4%
- Households deprived in 2+ ways
- 28%
- Residents in very good health
- 39%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 13.4%
England 17.8%
England 48.4%
Housing
- Owned by the occupier
- 53%
- Social housing
- 5%
- Privately rented
- 41%
- Detached homes
- 7%
- Four or more bedrooms
- 8%
- No car
- 31%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 19.2%
England 38.2%
England 22.5%
England 21.9%
Census 2021, for East Suffolk 004A and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.
School details
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Phase
- Primary
- Ages
- Ages 3–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- Yes
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- Reach2 Academy Trust
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Julie Catchpole
- Opened as this establishment
- 1 July 2015
- Register status
- Open
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Ward
- Harbour & Normanston
- Constituency
- Lowestoft
- URN
- 141984
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.
Admissions history
The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.
Reception
All 11 annual observations
| Entry year | Places | First choices | Per place | First choices offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | 48 | 45 | 0.94 | 100% |
| 2017/18 | 60 | 54 | 0.90 | 100% |
| 2018/19 | 58 | 53 | 0.91 | 100% |
| 2019/20 | 58 | 52 | 0.90 | 100% |
| 2020/21 | 60 | 70 | 1.17 | 86% |
| 2021/22 | 47 | 47 | 1.00 | 100% |
| 2022/23 | 44 | 44 | 1.00 | 100% |
| 2023/24 | 56 | 56 | 1.00 | 100% |
| 2024/25 | 56 | 54 | 0.96 | 100% |
| 2025/26 | 45 | 45 | 1.00 | 100% |
| 2026/27 | 37 | 36 | 0.97 | 100% |
These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.
Nearest primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Expected standard | Distance | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northfield St Nicholas Primary AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 52% | 0.1 mi | |
| Poplars Community Primary SchoolAcademy converter | Requires improvement 2023 | 30% | 0.2 mi | |
| Roman Hill Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led | No overall grade | 23% | 0.5 mi | |
| Woods Loke Primary SchoolAcademy converter | Outstanding 2024 | 72% | 1 mi | |
| Gunton Primary AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2024 | 56% | 1 mi | |
| Red Oak Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 90% | 1.3 mi | |
| Phoenix St Peter AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No overall grade | 53% | 1.5 mi | |
| The Limes Primary AcademyFree schools | Good 2023 | — | 1.6 mi |
Schools like this
The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.
Percentage meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. This school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
| School | Area | Ofsted | Expected standard | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kanes Hill Primary SchoolAcademy converter | Southampton | Good 2022 | 61% | |
| Outwood Primary Academy WoodlandsAcademy sponsor led | Doncaster | Good 2024 | 51% | |
| Laithes Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led | Barnsley | Report card 2026 | 68% | |
| Woodlands Primary AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Oldham | No overall grade | 56% | |
| Roe Farm Primary SchoolCommunity school | Derby | Good 2024 | 50% | |
| Thurcroft Junior AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Rotherham | No overall grade | 54% | |
| Park Primary SchoolCommunity school | Colne | Good 2022 | 47% | |
| Bardfield AcademyAcademy converter | Basildon | Requires improvement 2024 | 41% | |
| Portsdown Primary SchoolCommunity school | Portsmouth | Good 2024 | 38% | |
| Mayfield Primary SchoolAcademy converter | Oldham | Requires improvement 2024 | 26% | |
| Briscoe Primary School & NurseryAcademy sponsor led | Basildon | Good 2024 | 61% | |
| Westwood Primary SchoolFoundation school | Leeds | Good 2023 | 60% |
Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.
Evidence ledger
Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.
| Evidence | Publisher | Reference date | How it reaches this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| School identity | Get Information About Schools | 23 August 2026 | Exact URN 141984; unified importer snapshot |
| Inspection evidence | Ofsted management information | 31 July 2026 | Exact URN; inspection 21 April 2026 |
| Attainment | DfE performance tables | 2024/25 | Exact URN; phase-specific definitions |
| Admissions | DfE school applications and offers | 2026/27 plus history to 2014/15 | Exact URN and entry point; national offer day |
| Pupil intake | DfE school census | 2024/25 | Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing |
| Funding allocation | DfE school funding statistics | 2025-26 financial year | No row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero |
| Roads and transport | DfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTAN | Five-year road window; access-node snapshot | Coordinate join within the stated radius |
| Neighbourhood | ONS Census | 2021 | LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes |
| Deprivation | English Indices of Deprivation | 2019 | LSOA containing the school |
| Home prices | HM Land Registry Price Paid Data | Sales since January 2024 | School postcode sector, not a catchment |
These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.