Kings Ford Academy

Kings Ford Academy is a junior academy within Inspires MAT. Pupils are happy, feel safe and recognise that the school is improving. Leadership is a notable strength: leaders accurately identify priorities, the curriculum has been revised and is well planned and ambitious, reading is prioritised, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified promptly and supported inclusively. Attendance is good, safeguarding is effective, and personal development is supported through clubs, pupil voice and preparation for life beyond school. Behaviour and attitudes require improvement. Expectations are not consistently high, the behaviour policy does not support consistent responses, and some pupils are distracted or disrespectful. Staff do not always intervene promptly and firmly, particularly with low-level disruption, so some pupils do not engage well or learn as well as they should. The quality of education is good but not yet consistent across all subjects. In a few subjects, resources and activities do not help pupils learn key knowledge, and some early reading books do not match pupils' phonics knowledge, affecting confidence and fluency. The school's work is not always reflected in national tests because pupils join and leave more often than elsewhere, although pupils achieve increasingly well the longer they are in school. Under current inspection arrangements, no overall effectiveness grade is given.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and trust staff to support them.
• Pupils are keen, active school citizens who contribute ideas for improvement.
• The revised curriculum is well planned, ambitious and appropriately sequenced.
• Staff check that pupils remember learning, improving recall in areas such as mathematics.
• Reading is prioritised, with effective support for pupils in the early stages of reading.
• Pupils with SEND are identified promptly and make effective progress through an inclusive ethos.
• Attendance is prioritised and pupils attend well.
• Behaviour has improved, with more pupils engaging in learning and behaving well.
• Pupils take pride in responsibilities such as librarians, school councillors and play leaders.
• Personal development is supported through clubs, online safety learning and strong pupil voice.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Behaviour expectations are not consistently high across the school.
• The behaviour policy does not support staff to respond consistently to inappropriate behaviour.
• Some pupils are easily distracted or disrespectful, and staff do not always intervene promptly and firmly.
• Different rules apply in different classes, weakening consistency.
• In a few subjects, resources and activities do not effectively help pupils learn key knowledge.
• Some early reading books do not match the sounds pupils know, affecting confidence and fluency.
• Curriculum expectations are not realised consistently across all curriculum areas.

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 Kings Ford Academy attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 20.2% 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, 6.5% of pupils at Kings Ford Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Kings Ford Academy had 22.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 30.6% 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, 17.8% of pupils at Kings Ford Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.9% 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 Kings Ford Academy received £8,016 and spent £7,122 for each of its 169 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £163,000 (£963 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of Inspires Mat, income was £6,646 and spending £6,280 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 Colchester · Essex local authority: places and applications

Kings Ford Academy is part of Inspires Mat, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Cherry Tree Academy Colchester
• Silver End Academy Witham
• Templars Academy Witham
• Witham Oaks Academy Witham

What is Kings Ford Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Kings Ford Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Kings Ford Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Kings Ford Academy was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Kings Ford Academy have?

Kings Ford Academy has 152 pupils on roll.

What age range does Kings Ford Academy cover?

Kings Ford Academy for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Kings Ford Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 29% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Kings Ford Academy?

Kings Ford Academy is at Gloucester Avenue, Shrub End, Colchester, Essex, CO2 9AZ.