Norbreck Primary Academy

Norbreck Primary Academy continues to perform successfully, maintaining the standards identified during its previous inspection. The school offers a nurturing and supportive environment where pupils feel safe, valued, and thrive both academically and personally. Despite a recent decline in Year 6 national assessment results, which reflected prior curriculum weaknesses, current curriculum improvements show promise in enhancing pupils' learning and achievement.

Strengths

• Strong relationships between staff and pupils promote a supportive school environment.
• Pupils display positive attitudes towards learning and achieve well.
• Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Exciting learning opportunities enhance pupil engagement.
• Prioritization of reading leads to pupils becoming confident, fluent readers.

Areas for Improvement

• Some subjects lack clear identification of essential knowledge for pupils.
• Checks on pupils' understanding in a few subjects do not consistently lead to effective learning adjustments.

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 Norbreck Primary Academy attended 96.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.9% 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, 0.2% of pupils at Norbreck Primary Academy 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 Norbreck Primary Academy had 24.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.2% 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, 13.0% of pupils at Norbreck Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.3% 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 2024–25 Norbreck Primary Academy received £5,907 and spent £6,121 for each of its 589 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £134,000 (£228 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of Synergy Education Trust Limited, income was £9,137 and spending £8,966 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Thornton-Cleveleys · Blackpool local authority: places and applications

Norbreck Primary Academy is part of Synergy Education Trust Limited, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Moor Park Primary School Blackpool
• Highfurlong School Blackpool
• Boundary Primary School Blackpool
• Stanley Primary School Blackpool
• The Maple School Blackpool

What is Norbreck Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Norbreck Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Norbreck Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Norbreck Primary Academy was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Norbreck Primary Academy have?

Norbreck Primary Academy has 593 pupils on roll.

What age range does Norbreck Primary Academy cover?

Norbreck Primary Academy for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Norbreck Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Norbreck Primary Academy?

Norbreck Primary Academy is at Norbreck Road, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, FY5 1PD.