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Forest Academy

Primary · Brandon · IP27 0FP

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Expected standard

Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)

The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.

Safeguarding: MetCurriculum & teaching: Expected standardAchievement: Expected standardAttendance & behaviour: Expected standardPersonal development: Strong standardInclusion: Strong standardLeadership & governance: Expected standardEarly years: Expected standardPost-16: Not applicable

Inspected 10 March 2026 · report published 13 May 2026

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

389 pupils · 93% of 420 capacity

School type
Academy converter
Age range
3–11
Gender
Mixed
Free school meals
20.2% of pupils
English as additional language
14.3% of pupils
SEN support
19.2% of pupils
EHC plan
3.9% of pupils
Nursery
Yes
Website
http://www.forest.suffolk.sch.uk
URN
136316

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

1.00 first-choice applications per place

32 places offered · 32 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2022 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 0.51 miles

measured in a straight line.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

54 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
54%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
4%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
104
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
104
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school54%
Median of its 12 closest peers67.5%
Suffolk average59.9%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedResult
Robert Ferguson Primary SchoolCarlisle · 223 miles awayGood38%
Kew Woods Primary SchoolSouthport · 170 miles awayGood79%
St Giles C of E AcademyPontefract · 118 miles awayGood (2015)78%
Highbury Primary SchoolPortsmouth · 133 miles awayExpected standard63%
Canon Burrows CofE Primary SchoolAshton-under-Lyne · 135 miles awayGood64%
Cavalry Primary SchoolMarch · 23 miles awayGood54%
Maundene SchoolChatham · 76 miles awayGood56%
Peasedown St John Primary SchoolBath · 152 miles awayGood62%
Finberry Primary SchoolAshford · 92 miles awayGood76%
Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery SchoolWelwyn Garden City · 57 miles awayGood80%
Racemeadow Primary AcademyAtherstone · 91 miles awayGood71%
Hill Top AcademyDoncaster · 104 miles awayOutstanding78%

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
5.3%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
15.1%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
21.6
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

90% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 5% moved to another state school · 5% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£6,433
Typical primary school£6,959

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
4/10more deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
2/10among the most deprived fifth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher18.2%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications26.8%18.1%
In managerial or professional work19.2%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways22.1%18.1%
Residents in very good health40.9%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier44.3%62.3%
Social housing28.7%17.1%
Privately rented26.6%20.5%
Detached houses16.1%22.9%
Flats25.7%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms9.6%21.1%
Households with no car or van26.4%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01029927 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,904 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£202,500217 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£170,000–£245,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (65)£260,000
Semi-detached (72)£195,000
Terraced (68)£180,000
Flat (12)£96,000

Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Inside the Reception cutoff distance (0.82 km, 2022 entry): 176 sales, median £195,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
2a rural school averages 0.3
Collisions at school-run times
5a rural school averages 0.7
All reported collisions
23a rural school averages 3.4
Of those, serious or fatal
7a rural school averages 0.9

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other rural schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools