Hillside Special School
Hitchcock Place, Sudbury, CO10 1NN
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 4 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Lizzi Murphy
- SEN provision
- SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty, PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- South Suffolk
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 86
- Pupils on roll
- 89
- URN
- 124903
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01787372808
About this school
Hillside Special School is a community special school in Sudbury. It teaches children aged 4 to 19 and has 89 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Hillside Special School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 9 | 8 | 12 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | - |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | - |
| Reading progress | -4.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -5.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -5.70 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Attainment 8 score | - | - | - |
| Progress 8 score | - | - | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | - | - | - |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | - | - | - |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Hillside Special School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Suffolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 0% | 54.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 55.4% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 57.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 85 |
| 2023/24 | 85 |
| 2024/25 | 86 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 45.24%
- English as an additional language
- 5.8%
- Overall absence
- 10.94%
- Persistent absence
- 26.25%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Chalk Hill1.0 miles
Academies · Sudbury
-
The Ryes College4.7 miles
Special schools · Sudbury
-
OneSchool Global UK Colchester Campus7.6 miles
Independent schools · Colchester
-
Teaseldown School7.7 miles
Special schools · Halstead
-
The Yellow House School7.8 miles
Special schools · Halstead
Other schools in Sudbury
- Chalk Hill Academies
- The Ryes College Special schools
- Acton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Belchamp St Paul Church of England Primary School Primary
- Boxford Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Cavendish Church of England Primary School Primary
- Clare Community Primary School Primary
- Glemsford Primary Academy Primary
- Great Waldingfield Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Hundon Community Primary School Primary
- Lavenham Community Primary School Primary
- Long Melford Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Hillside Special School teach?
- Hillside Special School teaches children aged 4 to 19. It is a special school in Sudbury.
- Who is the headteacher of Hillside Special School?
- The headteacher of Hillside Special School is Mrs Lizzi Murphy, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Hillside Special School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Hillside Special School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Hillside Special School?
- Hillside Special School has 89 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 19.
- Is Hillside Special School full?
- Hillside Special School has capacity for 86 pupils and 89 on roll (103%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Hillside Special School a faith school?
- No. Hillside Special School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does Hillside Special School have?
- The schools register lists Hillside Special School's special educational needs provision as: SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty; PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Hillside Special School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2022/23 and 0% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Hillside Special School's absence rate?
- Hillside Special School's overall absence rate is 10.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Hillside Special School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Hillside Special School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.