East Whitby Primary Academy

East Whitby Primary Academy is an inclusive, caring primary school where pupils feel safe and well supported. Inspectors found consistently strong provision across the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years. Relationships are respectful, behaviour in lessons is calm and focused, and pupils say adults are there when they need help. Pupils also value the wide range of trips, clubs, charity work and other opportunities that broaden their horizons beyond Whitby. The school has made significant curriculum improvements in English and mathematics, and reading is a clear priority from the early years. Phonics teaching is expert, support for pupils who fall behind is effective, and the early years environment is well resourced and rich in language. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported and included, attendance is promoted tenaciously, and the trust provides accurate oversight and specialist support. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. There are still areas to improve. In some subjects, the curriculum does not clearly set out the key knowledge and vocabulary pupils should learn, and some subjects are taught too infrequently for pupils to revisit and remember their learning securely. Pupils’ understanding of British values is also underdeveloped. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic; it is part of The Enquire Learning Trust and, as a graded inspection from September 2024, no overall effectiveness grade was given.

Strengths

• Inclusive, caring school with deeply respectful and positive relationships between teachers and pupils.
• Pupils behave calmly and focus well in lessons, and they feel safe, cared for and respected.
• Pupils support one another as ‘playground buddies’, so no one is left out.
• Strong early years provision with an engaging, vocabulary-rich indoor and outdoor learning environment.
• Reading is prioritised from the start, with expert phonics teaching and effective help for pupils who fall behind.
• Curriculum improvements in English and mathematics ensure pupils’ knowledge builds logically over time.
• Well-trained staff support pupils with SEND carefully, including pupils with the most complex needs.
• Attendance is promoted tenaciously through frequent analysis, targeted action and work with local services.
• Personal development is well considered, including the innovative Pride of East Whitby active citizenship programme.
• Pupils benefit from a broad range of trips, residential experiences, author visits, clubs and charity fundraising.
• The trust works closely with the school and provides accurate oversight and specialist support.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, the curriculum does not clearly define the important knowledge and vocabulary pupils should know and remember.
• Gaps in pupils’ understanding and less precise subject-specific language result from unclear curriculum content in some subjects.
• Some subjects are taught less frequently, so pupils do not revisit learning often enough and forget what they have studied.
• Pupils’ knowledge of British values is underdeveloped, leaving them less fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

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 East Whitby Primary Academy attended 94.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.2% 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, 1.9% of pupils at East Whitby 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 East Whitby Primary Academy had 17.0 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, 14.7% of pupils at East Whitby Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 12.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 16 pupils.

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 East Whitby Primary Academy received £8,889 and spent £8,744 for each of its 192 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £63,000 (£326 per pupil).

Across all 32 schools of The Enquire Learning Trust, income was £7,171 and spending £7,034 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 Whitby · North Yorkshire local authority: places and applications

East Whitby Primary Academy is part of The Enquire Learning Trust, which runs 32 schools. The nearest others:

• Stakesby Primary Academy Whitby
• Roseberry Academy Middlesbrough
• Stokesley Primary Academy Middlesbrough
• Rose Wood Academy Middlesbrough
• Easterside Academy Middlesbrough
• High Clarence Academy Middlesbrough
• Oakdene Primary Academy Billingham
• Yarm Primary School Yarm
• Harrow Gate Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• Hardwick Green Primary Academy Stockton-On-Tees

What is East Whitby Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

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

When was East Whitby Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

East Whitby Primary Academy was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does East Whitby Primary Academy have?

East Whitby Primary Academy has 197 pupils on roll.

What age range does East Whitby Primary Academy cover?

East Whitby Primary Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 69% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is East Whitby Primary Academy?

East Whitby Primary Academy is at Stainsacre Lane, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO22 4HU.