Leigh North Street Primary School

Leigh North Street Primary School is a large primary school that was judged to meet the expected standard in all inspected areas, with safeguarding standards met. Pupils achieve well overall, especially in reading and phonics, and they build secure mathematical knowledge. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported, including through The Cove provision, and children in the Reception Year get off to a strong start. Attendance is consistently better than national averages, behaviour is calm and positive, and pupils benefit from a well-designed PSHE curriculum and a broad enrichment offer. The main concerns are about consistency rather than serious failure. New approaches to teaching writing are not yet embedded consistently, and staff do not always adapt teaching sharply enough for pupils who need content revisited versus those ready to move on. Governors are still refining their monitoring systems, and some parents are frustrated by recent changes and how they have been communicated. The school has also managed a period of leadership and staffing instability. Published outcomes add useful context: the three-year picture is generally strong, but 2024/25 results dipped in mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils' outcomes were below national averages with a widened disadvantage gap. Leaders should focus on making recent improvements consistent across the school, strengthening communication with parents, and using monitoring information precisely to adjust improvement priorities.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve well overall, with reading, phonics and mathematics particularly secure.
• Pupils with SEND are well supported, including through The Cove internal provision.
• Attendance is a high priority, and absence and persistent absence are consistently below national averages.
• Pupils behave well, the learning environment is calm, and bullying is rare.
• Early years provision gets children off to a strong start and prepares them well for Year 1.
• The PSHE curriculum and wider enrichment offer are well designed and build pupils' confidence.
• Staff receive relevant training and most feel supported with workload and wellbeing.
• Leaders and governors know the school's strengths and areas for improvement.
• Pupils are proud of their school and demonstrate the ASPIRE values.
• The school engages well with external professionals and acts on expert advice.

Areas for Improvement

• New writing approaches are not yet consistently embedded, so pupils do not always apply handwriting, grammar, punctuation or spelling well.
• Teaching is not always adapted sharply enough for pupils who need revisiting versus pupils ready to move on.
• Governors' monitoring systems are still being refined and do not yet give all the information needed to adjust improvement priorities.
• Some parents are frustrated by recent changes and how they have been communicated.
• Disadvantaged pupils' 2024/25 outcomes were below national averages and the disadvantage gap widened.
• Recent leadership and staffing changes have caused some instability.

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 Leigh North Street Primary School attended 96.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 6.1% 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, 0.6% of pupils at Leigh North Street 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 Leigh North Street Primary School had 20.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.7% 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, 11.4% of pupils at Leigh North Street Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.6% 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 Leigh North Street Primary School received £6,348 and spent £6,500 for each of its 612 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £398,000 (£651 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 Leigh-On-Sea · Southend-on-Sea local authority: places and applications

What is Leigh North Street Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Leigh North Street Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Leigh North Street Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Leigh North Street Primary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Leigh North Street Primary School have?

Leigh North Street Primary School has 612 pupils on roll.

What age range does Leigh North Street Primary School cover?

Leigh North Street Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Leigh North Street Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Leigh North Street Primary School?

Leigh North Street Primary School is at North Street, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 1QE.