Sir Peter Hall School
Airfield Road, Bury St. Edmunds, IP32 7PJ
- Phase
- Free Schools
- School type
- Free schools special
- Ages
- 9 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Miss Ros Towns
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Unity Schools Partnership
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 80
- Pupils on roll
- 56
- URN
- 149108
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01284649006
About this school
Sir Peter Hall School is a special academy in Bury St. Edmunds. It teaches children aged 9 to 16 and has 56 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. 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
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- 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 | 5 | 8 | 9 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | - | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | - |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | 99.0 |
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2024/25 |
|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 15 |
| Attainment 8 score | 1.0 |
| Progress 8 score | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.1 |
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 Sir Peter Hall 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 | — | 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 | 30.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 31% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 30.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 35 |
| 2023/24 | 57 |
| 2024/25 | 56 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 66.07%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 30.75%
- Persistent absence
- 72.73%
Location
Nearby schools
-
First Base Bury St Edmunds0.1 miles
Academies · Bury St Edmunds
-
Priory School1.1 miles
Academies · Bury St Edmunds
-
Learning Support, Western Area Education Office1.4 miles
Other types · Bury St Edmunds
-
Pushforward Primary School1.5 miles
Special schools · Rougham
-
South Lee School1.7 miles
Independent schools · Bury St Edmunds
Other schools in Bury St. Edmunds
- Riverwalk School Academies
- The Albany Academies
- Great Whelnetham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ixworth Church of England Primary School Primary
- Rougham Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Edmundsbury CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Stanton Primary School Primary
- The Pines Primary School Primary
- Thurston Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- West Row Academy Primary
- Sybil Andrews Academy Secondary
- Culford School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Sir Peter Hall School teach?
- Sir Peter Hall School teaches children aged 9 to 16. It is a special school in Bury St. Edmunds.
- Who is the headteacher of Sir Peter Hall School?
- The headteacher of Sir Peter Hall School is Miss Ros Towns, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Sir Peter Hall School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sir Peter Hall 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 Sir Peter Hall School?
- Sir Peter Hall School has 56 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 9 to 16.
- Is Sir Peter Hall School full?
- Sir Peter Hall School has capacity for 80 pupils and 56 on roll (70%), 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 Sir Peter Hall School a faith school?
- No. Sir Peter Hall School has no designated religious character.
- Is Sir Peter Hall School a selective school?
- No. Sir Peter Hall School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Sir Peter Hall School?
- Sir Peter Hall School is part of UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Sir Peter Hall School have?
- The schools register lists Sir Peter Hall School's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Sir Peter Hall School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2023/24 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 Sir Peter Hall School's absence rate?
- Sir Peter Hall School's overall absence rate is 30.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sir Peter Hall School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sir Peter Hall 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 10 July 2026.