South Hylton Primary Academy

South Hylton Primary Academy is a school where pupils feel safe, welcome and well supported. Inspectors found the school meeting expected standards across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development, with safeguarding requirements met. Pupils behave well, benefit from calm routines and positive relationships, and are generally well prepared for their next stage of education. The school’s inclusive culture, strong early years provision and effective phonics teaching are notable strengths, and attendance is improving, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and priorities. Governance and trust oversight are robust, staff wellbeing is considered, and the curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced. Pupils access a wide personal development offer and are supported well, including those with additional needs and disadvantaged pupils. Two main areas need further work. Writing is not yet consistently strong across the school; support for pupils who struggle does not always close gaps, and this persists into key stage 2, including in the early years. Attendance is improving but overall absence and persistent absence remain above national averages, and leaders should keep focusing on attendance for the most disadvantaged pupils. The school is part of The Laidlaw Schools Trust and also runs a nursery for two-year-olds; it has above-average free school meal eligibility and location deprivation.

Strengths

• Inclusive culture with early identification and effective support for pupils with SEND and other barriers to learning.
• Strong early years provision with purposeful language development and high-quality staff interactions.
• Effective phonics and early reading teaching, with targeted catch-up support.
• Ambitious, broad and well-sequenced curriculum from early years to Year 6.
• Calm, orderly and respectful behaviour environment with positive pupil attitudes.
• Robust attendance monitoring and improving attendance, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Robust governance and effective trust oversight, with a clear focus on staff wellbeing.
• Comprehensive personal development programme with wide enrichment and leadership opportunities.
• Pupils feel safe, bullying is rare and staff respond quickly to concerns.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of teaching quality and take decisive action to improve practice.

Areas for Improvement

• Writing is not yet consistently embedded across the school, and support for pupils who struggle does not sufficiently close gaps.
• Pupils’ writing errors can persist into key stage 2, including for pupils with SEND and other barriers to learning.
• Writing support in the early years needs further development.
• Overall absence and persistent absence remain above national averages.
• Attendance for the most disadvantaged pupils still needs further improvement.

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 South Hylton Primary Academy attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.2% 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, 1.5% of pupils at South Hylton 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 South Hylton Primary Academy had 17.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.6% 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, 21.0% of pupils at South Hylton Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.6% 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 South Hylton Primary Academy received £8,259 and spent £7,739 for each of its 252 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £496,000 (£1,969 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of The Laidlaw Schools Trust, income was £9,582 and spending £9,338 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 Sunderland · Sunderland local authority: places and applications

South Hylton Primary Academy is part of The Laidlaw Schools Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Academy 360 Sunderland
• Oxclose Primary Academy Washington
• Oxclose Community Academy Washington
• Westgate Hill Primary Academy Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Atkinson Road Primary Academy Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Thomas Walling Primary Academy Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Excelsior Academy Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Sedgefield Hardwick Primary Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• Sedgefield Community College Stockton-On-Tees

What is South Hylton Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for South Hylton Primary Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in January 2026.

When was South Hylton Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

South Hylton Primary Academy was last inspected in January 2026.

How many pupils does South Hylton Primary Academy have?

South Hylton Primary Academy has 252 pupils on roll.

What age range does South Hylton Primary Academy cover?

South Hylton Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

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

Where is South Hylton Primary Academy?

South Hylton Primary Academy is at Union Street, South Hylton, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR4 0LS.