St Mark's CofE Primary School

St Mark's CofE Primary is a joyful, inclusive and nurturing school where high expectations are combined with strong pastoral care. Inspectors found good quality of education, good behaviour and attitudes, good leadership and management, good early years provision, and outstanding personal development. The school has improved significantly since its previous inspection, when it was judged to require improvement, and leaders and governors are described as dedicated and effective. Many pupils are disadvantaged or have SEND, and the school's compassionate ethos and support for vulnerable families, refugees and pupils with protected characteristics are notable strengths. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils behave well, relationships are warm and respectful, and pupils receive impressive help when they struggle with emotions. Early years children make a great start, phonics teaching is consistently effective, and pupils become fluent, confident readers. The curriculum has been developed to be broad and ambitious, with strong practice in subjects such as history and art and design, and recent assessment work is proving effective. Pupils benefit from an exceptional personal development offer, including rich sport, music, performance and enrichment opportunities, with disadvantaged pupils taking up opportunities exceptionally well. However, writing is a clear area for improvement: pupils find it difficult to produce longer writing with accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling. The school must strengthen its writing curriculum and delivery so that writing outcomes improve. Attendance is also a concern; despite excellent pastoral work to help vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils overcome barriers, some pupils still do not attend frequently enough and miss valuable learning and personal development. The school knows this focus must continue.

Strengths

• Joyful, inclusive and nurturing community with a deeply compassionate ethos
• High expectations supported by positive pupil behaviour and hard work
• Strong support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND
• Outstanding personal development and excellent pastoral care
• Great start for children in early years
• Consistently effective phonics teaching and strong reading development
• Broad, ambitious curriculum with impressive subject-specific learning
• Effective assessment practice that helps teachers address gaps
• Warm, respectful relationships and impressive emotional support for pupils
• Rich sport, music, performance and enrichment opportunities
• Exceptional take-up of opportunities by disadvantaged pupils
• Dedicated, compassionate and effective leadership and governance
• Staff feel highly supported and morale is buoyant
• Effective safeguarding arrangements

Areas for Improvement

• Writing curriculum and delivery do not sufficiently prepare pupils to write accurately and at length
• Pupils find it difficult to produce longer writing with accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling
• Some pupils do not attend school frequently enough, missing valuable learning and personal development
• High rates of pupil absence remain a concern and require continued focus

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 St Mark's CofE Primary School attended 91.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 24.2% 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, 6.4% of pupils at St Mark's CofE 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 St Mark's CofE Primary School had 14.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.0% 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, 30.1% of pupils at St Mark's CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 9.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 8 pupils.

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 St Mark's CofE Primary School received £9,792 and spent £11,146 for each of its 156 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £331,000 (-£2,123 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

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What is St Mark's CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mark's CofE Primary School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was St Mark's CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mark's CofE Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does St Mark's CofE Primary School have?

St Mark's CofE Primary School has 156 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mark's CofE Primary School cover?

St Mark's CofE Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are St Mark's CofE Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 33% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mark's CofE Primary School?

St Mark's CofE Primary School is at Manor Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 5EA.