Seascape Primary School, Peterlee

Ofsted's report card from its inspection grades Seascape Primary School on 7 areas: 2 needs attention and 5 urgent improvement. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Inclusion - Needs attention. "The support provided for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is variable."

Personal development and wellbeing - Needs attention. "As a result of wider issues in the curriculum and teaching, pupils do not remember much of what they have been taught from the school's personal development programme."

Achievement - Urgent improvement. "Since the previous full inspection, while pupils' achievement is improving, they still do not achieve well enough across the curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Urgent improvement. "Pupils' attendance is low, and well below national averages."

Curriculum and teaching - Urgent improvement. "Since the previous inspection, leaders have made improvements to the curriculum."

Early years - Urgent improvement. "Leaders' expectations for what children in the early years can achieve are too low."

Leadership and governance - Urgent improvement. "Over time, leaders have not secured the improvements needed for pupils."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those who are otherwise disadvantaged, have their needs accurately identified, so that targeted support can be provided, to allow these pupils to acquire the knowledge that they need to be ready for their next stage of education"; "Leaders should ensure that the checks that staff make on pupils' learning accurately identify gaps in pupils' knowledge, and allow these to be addressed effectively"; "Leaders should ensure that all staff embed the changes recently made to the school's curriculum, so that pupils' knowledge builds over time, and they make progress from their starting points"; "Leaders should further develop the implementation of the new attendance system to ensure that it has a positive and sustained impact on pupils' attendance"; "Leaders should provide pupils with a range of suitable opportunities that broaden their experiences and enable them to develop their talents and interests"; "Leaders should further develop the school's personal development programme, so that pupils develop a better understanding of, and respect for, the protected characteristics, fundamental British values and cultural diversity in modern Britain"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils, including children in the early years, are supported to read, write, spell and communicate effectively so that they are ready for their next stage of education"; "Leaders should ensure that strong interactions, including modelling, scaffolding and extending vocabulary, are of a consistently high quality across the early years provision. They should develop the early years curriculum to ensure that vocabulary, rhymes and stories are used to help pupils acquire the knowledge and skills they need to be ready for Year 1".

In 2025, 33% of Year 6 pupils at Seascape Primary School reached the expected standard in reading and 11% in maths. At the average state primary the figures were 75% and 74% in County Durham and 77% and 75% across England.

Results fell from 45% in reading and 55% in maths in 2024.

With small year groups, a few pupils can move these figures by several points.

For September 2026 entry, 27 families put Seascape Primary School as their first choice and 39 named it as one of their preferences, for 27 places offered. That is one first choice for every place. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state primary schools to Seascape Primary School are Seascape Academy (under 0.1 miles); Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School (0.6 miles); Dene House Primary School (0.6 miles, Good, 78% reading, 74% maths); and Cotsford Primary School (0.7 miles, Good, 74% reading, 79% maths).

Each of them had higher 2025 results than Seascape Primary School.

16 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Seascape Primary School (as of April 2026): 56% would recommend the school, 63% say their child is happy there and 13% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (63%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (13%).

63.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 7.6% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (86%) and Black (8%).

In 2026, 65 pupils (24.7%) received SEN support and 15 (5.7%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is speech, language and communication needs.

The nearest railway station is Horden, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.

10 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Chapel Hill Road (s-bound), 250 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Seascape Primary School stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 367 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, criminal damage and arson and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in County Durham (84), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Seascape Primary School issued 22 suspensions, 8.2 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The secondary schools closest to Seascape Primary School are Dene Academy (0.5 miles), St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College (1 mile), The Academy at Shotton Hall (1.5 miles) and Easington Academy (1.6 miles).