Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School is performing well overall, demonstrating a strong commitment to fostering a positive learning environment and supporting pupil development. The school's leadership has effectively implemented improvements since the last inspection, resulting in good progress across various areas. Pupils are proud of their school and engage positively with their learning, with behaviour considered calm and orderly. There is a clear focus on ensuring pupils develop important values such as tolerance and respect for others, bolstered by a range of extracurricular activities that enhance their personal growth.

Strengths

• Strong leadership drives continuous improvement.
• Pupils exhibit pride in their school and a strong commitment to learning.
• Behaviour is calm, and bullying is extremely rare.
• Curriculum fosters values of tolerance and respect.
• Reading is well-planned and effectively taught across year groups.
• Strong support for pupils with special educational needs.

Areas for Improvement

• Some curriculum leaders are new and require further training and support.
• Improvements in curriculum sequencing need to be completed across subjects.

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 Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 6.0% 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 Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled 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 Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School had 23.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.6% 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 Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.1% 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 Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School received £6,202 and spent £6,248 for each of its 268 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £89,000 (£331 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 Ipswich · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

What is Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School have?

Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School has 273 pupils on roll.

What age range does Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School cover?

Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School?

Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School is at The Street, Capel St Mary, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2EG.