St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey

St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, Costessey is a caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, valued and proud to attend. Inspectors found all key judgements to be good: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The school sets high expectations, has an ambitious and well-structured curriculum, supports pupils with SEND well, and has a calm, orderly environment with polite and respectful pupils. Safeguarding arrangements are effective, and governance and trust support are strong. There are two main areas for improvement. Teachers do not always check pupils’ understanding precisely enough to adapt future teaching, so some pupils complete work that is not well matched to what they already know or need next. In addition, support for pupils at the early stages of reading is not consistently implemented across the school, meaning some pupils do not become confident and fluent readers as quickly as they could. This was the school’s first graded inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains a good school. It is a Catholic primary academy within St John the Baptist Catholic Multi Academy Trust and serves pupils aged 3 to 11.

Strengths

• Caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe and valued.
• Ambitious and well-structured curriculum across subjects.
• Strong support for pupils with SEND, including tailored provision and adapted lessons.
• Pupils behave well and are polite, respectful and focused.
• Clear and consistent behaviour routines create a calm, orderly school.
• Personal development is well supported through the wider curriculum, trips, clubs and pupil leadership roles.
• Early years provision is well organised and prepares children well for Year 1.
• Structured phonics programme helps children in the early years learn quickly.
• Governance and trust support are effective, particularly for curriculum development and staff training.
• Staff feel supported and leaders consider workload carefully.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Checks on pupils’ understanding are not always precise enough to inform future teaching.
• Some pupils complete work that is not well matched to their existing knowledge or next steps.
• Support for pupils at the early stages of reading is not consistently implemented across the school.
• Some pupils do not develop reading fluency as well as they could.

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 St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.5% 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, 0.0% of pupils at St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey 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 St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey had 21.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.1% 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 St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.9% 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 St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey received £6,037 and spent £6,403 for each of its 315 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £265,000 (£843 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of St John the Baptist Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,090 and spending £6,959 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 Norwich · Norfolk local authority: places and applications

St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey is part of St John the Baptist Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School Norwich
• Notre Dame High School, Norwich Norwich
• St Edmund's RC Primary School and Nursery Bungay
• St Benet's RC Primary School and Nursery Beccles
• St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School Great Yarmouth
• St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School Lowestoft
• St Martha's Catholic Primary School King'S Lynn
• St Thomas More Catholic Primary School Peterborough
• St John Fisher Catholic High School Peterborough
• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Peterborough

What is St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey is Good, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey last inspected by Ofsted?

St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey have?

St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey has 315 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey cover?

St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey?

St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Costessey is at Westend, Old Costessey, Norwich, Norfolk, NR8 5AG.