Sugar Hill Primary School

Sugar Hill Primary School is a highly effective, welcoming community primary school where staff know pupils well and pupils feel happy and safe. Inspectors found exemplary early years provision, outstanding behaviour and personal development, and outstanding leadership, with the quality of education judged good. Pupils respond well to the school's high expectations, behave maturely and benefit from an exceptionally broad range of experiences, clubs and leadership roles.

Strengths

• Welcoming school with strong relationships between staff, pupils and families
• Exceptionally high expectations from the early years that pupils live up to
• Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, with mature, respectful and supportive pupils
• Exceptional personal development through clubs, leadership roles and community projects
• Exemplary early years provision with highly skilled staff and well-planned environments
• Strong phonics teaching and effective support for struggling readers
• Effective SEND identification and individualised support that enables access to the full curriculum
• Determined and effective work to improve attendance and punctuality
• Outstanding leadership with high-quality professional development and strong staff support
• Effective safeguarding arrangements

Areas for Improvement

• In a small number of subjects, assessment is not precise enough to check what pupils know, so misconceptions and gaps are not always addressed

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Sugar Hill Primary School attended 93.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.3% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.7% of pupils at Sugar Hill Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Sugar Hill Primary School had 24.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 16.7% of pupils at Sugar Hill Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Sugar Hill Primary School received £6,563 and spent £6,593 for each of its 438 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £260,000 (£593 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Newton Aycliffe · County Durham local authority: places and applications

What is Sugar Hill Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sugar Hill Primary School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Sugar Hill Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Sugar Hill Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Sugar Hill Primary School have?

Sugar Hill Primary School has 448 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sugar Hill Primary School cover?

Sugar Hill Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Sugar Hill Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 52% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Sugar Hill Primary School?

Sugar Hill Primary School is at Sheraton Road, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, DL5 5NU.