Hillside Primary School
Belstead Avenue, Ipswich, IP2 8NU
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE ACTIVE LEARNING TRUST LIMITED
- Headteacher
- Mrs Lucy Wass
- Religious ethos
- None
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- The Active Learning Trust Limited
- Constituency
- Ipswich
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 500
- Pupils on roll
- 402
- URN
- 140887
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01473601402
About this school
Hillside Primary School is a primary academy in Ipswich. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 402 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Hillside Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Early years
- 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 | 71 | 51 | 58 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 30% | 49% | 53% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 4% | 3% |
| Expected standard in reading | 49% | 67% | 60% |
| Expected standard in maths | 42% | 71% | 74% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 51% | 76% | 64% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 99.0 | 103.0 | 101.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 98.0 | 102.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.20 | - | - |
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.
Trends over time
How Hillside Primary 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 | 30% | 54.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 49% | 55.4% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 53% | 57.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 467 |
| 2023/24 | 419 |
| 2024/25 | 421 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Hillside Primary School compares
Hillside Primary School ranked 159th of 225 primary schools in Suffolk for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 26% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 32% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 53% | 6.4% | 45.5% | 402 | — |
| Halifax Primary School | 72% | 4.4% | 24.8% | 409 | 0.4 miles |
| St Mark's Catholic Primary School | — | — | — | 202 | 0.7 miles |
| St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, Ipswich | 47% | 9.2% | 36.1% | 407 | 0.9 miles |
| Cliff Lane Primary School | 74% | 5.3% | 16.7% | 446 | 0.9 miles |
| The Willows Primary School | 35% | 7% | 55.2% | 259 | 0.9 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 45.45%
- English as an additional language
- 57.7%
- Overall absence
- 6.42%
- Persistent absence
- 21.04%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Halifax Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Ipswich
-
St Mark's Catholic Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Ipswich
-
St Matthew's Church of England Primary School, Ipswich0.9 miles
Primary · Ipswich
-
Cliff Lane Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Ipswich
-
The Willows Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Ipswich
Other schools in Ipswich
Hillside Primary School ranks 37th of the 55 ranked primary schools in Ipswich.
- Bentley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Bildeston Primary School Primary
- Birchwood Primary School Primary
- Bosmere Community Primary School Primary
- Bramford Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Britannia Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Broke Hall Community Primary School Primary
- Bucklesham Primary School Primary
- Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Castle Hill Infant School Primary
- Castle Hill Junior School Primary
- Cedarwood Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Hillside Primary School teach?
- Hillside Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Ipswich.
- Who is the headteacher of Hillside Primary School?
- The headteacher of Hillside Primary School is Mrs Lucy Wass, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Hillside Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Hillside Primary 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 Primary School?
- Hillside Primary School has 402 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Hillside Primary School full?
- Hillside Primary School has capacity for 500 pupils and 402 on roll (80%), so it has space against 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 Primary School a faith school?
- No. Hillside Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Hillside Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Hillside Primary School as having nursery classes.
- Is Hillside Primary School part of an academy trust?
- Hillside Primary School is part of THE ACTIVE LEARNING TRUST LIMITED. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Hillside Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 30% in 2022/23 and 53% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Hillside Primary School compare with other schools in Suffolk?
- Hillside Primary School ranked 159th of 225 primary schools in Suffolk for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 26% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 32% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Hillside Primary School's absence rate?
- Hillside Primary School's overall absence rate is 6.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Hillside Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Hillside Primary 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 1 July 2026.