Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School
The Street, Barnby, Beccles, NR34 7QB
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- CONSORTIUM TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Simon Lea
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- The Consortium Multi-Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Lowestoft
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 105
- Pupils on roll
- 91
- URN
- 144828
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01502476230
About this school
Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School is a primary academy in Beccles. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 91 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 14 | 12 | 6 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 57% | 42% | 33% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 93% | 58% | 83% |
| Expected standard in maths | 57% | 67% | 50% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 93% | 92% | 50% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 105.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 103.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +4.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.90 | - | - |
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 Barnby and North Cove Community 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 | 57% | 54.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 42% | 55.4% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 33% | 57.1% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 83 |
| 2023/24 | 73 |
| 2024/25 | 78 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School compares
Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School ranked 213th of 225 primary schools in Suffolk for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 8% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 33% | 5.8% | 23.9% | 91 | — |
| Worlingham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | 59% | 4.6% | 11.3% | 324 | 1.8 miles |
| Carlton Colville Primary School | — | — | — | 366 | 2.4 miles |
| Beccles Primary Academy | 50% | 7.3% | 48.2% | 148 | 2.4 miles |
| Grove Primary School | 68% | 4.7% | 19.7% | 304 | 2.7 miles |
| Ravensmere Infant School | — | 3.1% | 12.9% | 52 | 3.0 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report19 May 2026
- 8 February 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 23.94%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 5.76%
- Persistent absence
- 15.15%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Worlingham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School1.8 miles
Primary · Beccles
-
Carlton Colville Primary School2.4 miles
Primary · Lowestoft
-
Beccles Primary Academy2.4 miles
Primary · Beccles
-
Grove Primary School2.7 miles
Primary · Lowestoft
-
Ravensmere Infant School3.0 miles
Primary · Beccles
Other schools in Beccles
Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School ranks 9th of the 9 ranked primary schools in Beccles.
- Beccles Primary Academy Primary
- Brampton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Gillingham St Michael's Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- Glebeland Community Primary School Primary
- Ilketshall St Lawrence School Primary
- Ravensmere Infant School Primary
- Ringsfield Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Benet's Catholic Primary School Primary
- The Albert Pye Community Primary School Primary
- Worlingham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Beccles High School Secondary
- Sir John Leman High School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School teach?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Beccles.
- Who is the headteacher of Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School?
- The headteacher of Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School is Mr Simon Lea, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Barnby and North Cove Community 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 big is Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School has 91 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School full?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School has capacity for 105 pupils and 91 on roll (87%), 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 Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School a faith school?
- No. Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School is part of CONSORTIUM TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School have?
- The schools register lists Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 57% in 2022/23 and 33% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School rank locally?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School ranked 213th of 225 primary schools in Suffolk for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 8% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Barnby and North Cove Community 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 15 July 2026.