Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy is a good school overall, with inspectors finding strong provision across most areas and outstanding early years education. Pupils love their school, feel safe and behave well, and they benefit from an ambitious curriculum that is implemented well in most classes. The school has effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including a SEN unit, and a strong phonics curriculum that helps children become fluent readers. Attendance is improving, personal development is strong, and safeguarding is effective. The main area for improvement is teaching consistency. Some teachers do not always deliver the curriculum in line with the school’s expectations, which means some pupils do not learn as effectively as the majority. Leaders are aware of this and provide training and coaching, but further work is needed to ensure all teaching is consistently effective. The inspection took place in January 2025 and was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. The school is part of the Paradigm multi-academy trust and includes a 26-place nursery and a SEN unit for key stage 2 pupils with speech, language and communication needs.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school and feel safe, with kind teachers and interesting lessons.
• The curriculum is ambitious and implemented well in most classes.
• Most pupils are making strong progress, including in mathematics.
• Pupils with SEND receive effective support and make strong progress.
• The phonics curriculum is strong and taught consistently well across year groups.
• Children in the early years make rapid progress in a calm, purposeful setting.
• Behaviour is usually good, and pupils are polite and caring.
• Personal development is strong through clubs, trips and learning about modern Britain.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Attendance is improving due to stringent systems.
• Teachers value the training and coaching they receive, and workload is managed well.

Areas for Improvement

• Some teachers do not always teach the curriculum in line with the school’s expectations.
• Teaching is not consistently effective across all classes, so some pupils do not learn as well as they should.

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 Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy attended 92.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.1% 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, 5.4% of pupils at Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm 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 Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy had 17.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 27.7% 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, 9.2% of pupils at Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 10.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 19 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 Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy received £8,436 and spent £8,461 for each of its 397 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £359,000 (£905 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Paradigm Trust, income was £10,029 and spending £10,015 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 Ipswich · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy is part of Paradigm Trust, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Piper's Vale Primary - A Paradigm Academy Ipswich
• Ipswich Academy Ipswich
• Woodbridge Road Academy Ipswich
• Culloden Primary - A Paradigm Academy London
• Old Ford Primary - A Paradigm Academy London
• Solebay Primary - A Paradigm Academy London

What is Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy have?

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy has 400 pupils on roll.

What age range does Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy cover?

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 60% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy?

Murrayfield Primary - A Paradigm Academy is at Nacton Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 9JL.