South Lee School
South Lee School is an independent school in Bury St Edmunds for boys and girls aged 0 to 13. It has 205 pupils and room for 324.
Nowton Road, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2BT01284 754654Mrs Sarah Catchpole headteacherAll details
Inspection
This private school is inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, not Ofsted. Its reports are at isi.net.
Results
The government does not publish comparable results for most independent schools (IGCSEs are left out of its measures), so none are shown here.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Suffolk council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 205 | 189 | 173 | 157 | 148 | 143 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 21% | 19% | 13% | 22% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 1% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwick Primary School | Academy | 480 m | 190 | Good 2024 | 18 | Compare |
| Riverwalk School | Academy | 600 m | 217 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| Learning Support, Western Area Education Office | Miscellaneous | 0.8 miles | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Edmund's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary School | Council | 1.0 miles | 328 | No overall grade 2025 | 82 | Compare |
| Sebert Wood Community Primary School | Council | 1.1 miles | 374 | Good 2023 | 53 | Compare |
| Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery | Council | 1.2 miles | 301 | Good 2022 | 8 | Compare |
| Priory School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 241 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is South Lee School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score South Lee School yet.
How many pupils does South Lee School have?
205 pupils aged 0 to 13 were on the roll in January 2024. It has 324 places, so it is 63% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Nowton Road, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2BT
- Telephone
- 01284 754654
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Catchpole
- Type of school
- Independent school (Other independent school, independent schools)
- Phase
- Independent school, ages 0-13, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Ward
- Southgate
- Constituency
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 18 September 1961
- URN
- 124876 · LAESTAB 9356025 · UKPRN 10018721
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.