Colby Primary School

Colby Primary School is a small village school that has undergone significant leadership and governance changes since its last inspection, including a new headteacher appointed in January 2026. Inspectors found the school to be performing securely overall, with pupils achieving well from their starting points and published outcomes consistently above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. Attendance and behaviour are particular strengths, with pupils demonstrating strong attitudes to learning, high attendance and low persistent absence. The school's inclusive culture ensures pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged are well supported and make good progress. Strengths include a well-planned personal development programme that reflects the local context, an extensive wider offer of clubs and leadership roles, and effective pastoral support. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils feel safe and know how to report concerns. Leaders have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development, and staff wellbeing is well supported. Areas for further development include the need to more precisely define curriculum end points in some subjects, particularly early writing, to ensure greater consistency in implementation across classes. The early years continuous provision also requires further development so that activities consistently have a clear purpose and children build their knowledge securely over time. These are not significant weaknesses but represent the next steps for the school to continue improving.

Strengths

• Pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, maintain consistently high attendance with persistent absence below the national average
• Pupils demonstrate strong attitudes to learning, integrity and perseverance, and behave extremely well
• A well-thought-out personal development programme develops pupils' confidence, resilience and independence
• The wider offer is extensive, with a wide range of clubs, enterprise activities and pupil leadership roles
• Pupils achieve above national averages in published outcomes, including key stage 2 reading, writing and mathematics, the Year 1 phonics check and the Year 4 multiplication check
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve well in a range of subjects and gaps with their peers are narrowing over time
• Leaders have a clear and accurate understanding of the quality of the curriculum and teaching and take timely action
• The teaching of early reading follows a systematic and synthetic phonics programme, and pupils read books that match their phonics knowledge
• Staff provide effective adaptations and reasonable adjustments so that pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils access learning confidently
• Leaders use extra funding effectively to ensure no pupil misses out on wider curriculum opportunities
• Staff wellbeing is a strength; leaders consider workload carefully and staff feel valued and supported
• Governors bring a suitable range of skills and experience and provide appropriate challenge and support
• Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils feel safe and trust staff to act on concerns

Areas for Improvement

• In some curriculum areas, including early writing, essential knowledge is identified but end points are not defined precisely enough, leading to inconsistency in implementation across classes
• Some early years activities lack a clear purpose, limiting how securely children build their knowledge over time

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 Colby Primary School attended 96.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 2.3% 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 Colby 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 Colby Primary School had 16.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 14.3% of pupils at Colby Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.6% 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 Colby Primary School received £6,908 and spent £6,835 for each of its 140 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £45,000 (£320 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 Norwich (North Norfolk) · Norfolk local authority: places and applications

What is Colby Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Colby Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Colby Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Colby Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Colby Primary School have?

Colby Primary School has 140 pupils on roll.

What age range does Colby Primary School cover?

Colby Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 75% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Colby Primary School?

Colby Primary School is at Bridge Road, Colby, Norwich, Norfolk, NR11 7EA.