Sunrise Academy
Sunrise Academy is a special free school in Lowestoft for boys and girls aged 9 to 16. It has 51 pupils and room for 52. About 69 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Church Lane, Lowestoft, NR33 8AXeasterneducationgroup.ac.uk/send/sunrise-academyMr Patrick Hamilton headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 25 February 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
8 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022† | 2019† | 2018† | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 6 | 3 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 1.1 | – | – | 43.4 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -2.03 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | 40% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | 62% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.08 | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.06 | – | – | 3.76 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | 28% | 41% |
† These results are for The Everitt Academy, the school this one replaced in April 2022. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025
5 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England. With a year group this small, a couple of children can move the percentages a long way.
All Year 6 measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2019† | 2018† | Suffolk | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils tested | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | – | – |
There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.
† These results are for The Everitt Academy, the school this one replaced in April 2022. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
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.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (41), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), language and communications needs (3), Specific learning difficulty (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 51 | 44 | 39 | 41 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 69% | 80% | 82% | 76% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 63.2% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21† | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 36.8% | 44.2% | 46.2% | 44.4% | 47.3% | 35.5% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 20.6% | 24.0% | 26.2% | 33.9% | 36.8% | 25.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 16.2% | 20.2% | 20.1% | 10.5% | 10.5% | 10.1% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 79.6% | 75.6% | 78.6% | 77.8% | 96.2% | 76.5% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 70.5 | 15.4 | 97.6 | – | – | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for The Everitt Academy, the school this one replaced in April 2022. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 8 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlton Colville Primary School | Academy | 770 m | 366 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Grove Primary School | Academy | 980 m | 304 | Good 2022 | 72 | Compare |
| Warren School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 163 | No overall grade 2024 | – | Compare |
| Elm Tree Primary School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 266 | Good 2022 | 79 | Compare |
| Pakefield High School | Academy | 1.4 miles | 679 | Good 2023 | 25 | Compare |
| Westwood Primary School | Academy | 1.5 miles | 184 | Good 2022 | 67 | Compare |
| Pakefield Primary School | Academy | 1.6 miles | 274 | Report card 2026 | 14 | Compare |
| Dell Primary School | Academy | 1.7 miles | 290 | Good 2022 | 41 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Sunrise Academy a good school?
Sunrise Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in February 2025.
What is Sunrise Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Sunrise Academy not judged at its last full inspection on 25 February 2025.
How good are Sunrise Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 2.5, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Sunrise Academy have?
51 pupils aged 9 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 52 places, so it is 98% full.
What is attendance like at Sunrise Academy?
Pupils were in school 63.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 80% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Sunrise Academy have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Church Lane, Lowestoft, NR33 8AX
- Website
- easterneducationgroup.ac.uk/send/sunrise-academy
- Headteacher
- Mr Patrick Hamilton
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 9-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Eastern Education Group Trust (10 schools)
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Ward
- Carlton Colville
- Constituency
- Lowestoft
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2022 (new provision)
- URN
- 149151 · LAESTAB 9357020 · UKPRN 10090547
- Formerly
- The Everitt Academy
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Year 6 results: DfE key stage 2 tables, 2024/25.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.