Grace Cook Primary School Review 2026: New free school with a strong early years start

This is the section where Grace Cook looks different from a long-established primary, because published end of key stage outcomes can take time to appear in a meaningful way for a school opened in September 2022. That does not indicate underperformance, it indicates that parents should treat quantitative attainment comparisons as limited at this stage.

What parents can use instead is the inspection profile, because it provides a structured, external view on how learning is being built and how consistently it is delivered. The February 2025 inspection recorded these judgements: Quality of education, Good; Behaviour and attitudes, Good; Personal development, Good; Leadership and management, Good; Early years provision, Outstanding.

The early years judgement is particularly relevant for this school because nursery and Reception are a major entry point and often set the tone for the whole primary journey. Strong early years routines and language foundations tend to show up later as pupils move into more formal literacy, structured maths, and wider foundation subjects.

The inspection report also flags the “next step” that many new schools face. It notes that curriculum planning is clear in most subjects, particularly English and mathematics, but that in some subjects the sequence of knowledge is less clear, with a risk of gaps if delivery does not match intent. For parents, the implication is simple. Ask how subject leadership is developing across the wider curriculum, not only in English and maths, and ask how the school checks that what is planned is what is taught.

Grace Cook’s teaching narrative is easiest to understand through the early years approach, because that is where the school publishes the most concrete detail.

One distinctive thread is the Curiosity Approach described on the school website. The school explains that it aims for a calm environment with open-ended resources at child eye level, designed to encourage independence, exploration and problem-solving. It also describes “loose parts” resources, including everyday items such as cutlery and nuts and bolts, intended to be used in many ways for counting, combining, drawing and early writing. For parents, the practical meaning is that early years learning is not framed as worksheets first. It is framed as purposeful play that builds language, attention and the habit of persisting when something is tricky.

The inspection report supports that picture in its description of pupils being encouraged to be curious learners, having chances to be creative and share ideas, and being willing to challenge themselves with enthusiasm. This matters because “curiosity” is often used as a slogan. Here, it is tied to specific decisions about resources, room design, and daily routines.

Reading is also positioned as a priority. The inspection report notes a high priority placed on reading and indicates that phonics begins early. For families, a useful admission question is how reading books are matched to phonics knowledge, and how quickly pupils are expected to move from decoding to fluency and comprehension as they progress through the school.

Because the school is still growing, parents should expect curriculum detail to be strongest where the school has already embedded practice, and still evolving in some foundation subjects as cohorts move up. A good sign to look for is how the school trains and supports subject leadership, so staff can check curriculum quality with confidence across every subject, not only the traditional core.

Grace Cook is a state primary serving children up to age 11, so most pupils will transfer to local state secondaries at the end of Year 6 through Suffolk’s normal admissions processes. In the absence of published destination patterns from the school, parents should plan this part of the journey in parallel with primary decisions.

A practical way to approach this is to shortlist likely secondaries early, then check how travel time and wraparound arrangements would work day to day. If you are considering moving into the area for a place, or you are on the edge of likely admission criteria, FindMySchool’s Map Search is a sensible tool for sanity-checking your location options against real-world journeys.

For children starting in nursery, a second question is continuity. The school offers nursery places for 2 to 4 year olds, and notes that 2 year olds can be offered a place (if available) in the term after they turn 2. Parents who value continuity should ask what the usual progression looks like from nursery to Reception in practice, and how the school supports children who start at Grace Cook later, for example in Year 1 or Year 2, when peer groups and routines are already established.

Grace Cook has a clear admissions story, and it has two parts, the statutory route for Reception and the practical reality of local demand.

For Reception entry in September 2026, the school states that applications are made through Suffolk County Council, with the national closing date given as 15 January 2026, and the national offer day as 16 April 2026. Those dates are the ones parents should build around if Reception is your target entry point.

The second part is competition. provided for this school, the Reception entry route is oversubscribed, with 83 applications for 29 offers and 2.86 applications per place. This does not necessarily mean you have “no chance”, but it does mean families should treat admission as a process, not an assumption. If you are buying or renting based on a place here, be conservative, and use tools such as FindMySchool’s distance and shortlisting features to keep realistic alternatives in view.

The school also publishes information about visiting. For parents exploring Reception entry for September 2026, the admissions overview page lists tours running from October 2025 through to January 2026, with several specific morning tour slots shown. Even where published dates have passed, the pattern is useful. It signals that the school is set up for multiple small-group tours across the autumn and early spring application window, rather than only one annual open evening.

For in-year places, the admissions overview indicates that applications for Years 1 to 5 are made directly to the school, with a link to Suffolk County Council guidance. In practice, in-year admissions often depend on cohort size as the school grows, so parents considering a mid-year move should ask about current numbers in the relevant class.

The strongest pastoral evidence currently available is the inspection narrative. It describes a culture where pupils can share worries with staff and expect help, and where pupils are kind and confident with one another. In a young school, those early culture markers are significant because they tend to be set deliberately by staff and routines rather than inherited over decades.

Behaviour is also described as high expectation and calm in practice, with older pupils supporting younger pupils through a play leader programme. For parents, peer support programmes in primary settings are a subtle indicator of how the school builds responsibility. They also reduce the “big child, little child” friction that can sometimes make playtimes stressful for younger pupils.

Families should still do the normal safeguarding due diligence. Read the safeguarding information the school publishes, ask how concerns are recorded and escalated, and ask how the school works with families where attendance, wellbeing or behaviour issues emerge. The school’s governance structure is also visible on its website, with a local governing committee listed, which can matter for oversight in a trust context.

Extracurricular detail is still emerging publicly, but there are a few specific, verifiable features parents can anchor to.

First, “Open the Book” is a named programme brought into school collective worship, using storytelling, props and drama, delivered regularly by local church teams. The implication for pupils is more than religious education. Storytelling performed well is a language-rich experience. It builds attention, vocabulary, narrative structure, and confidence speaking about ideas, all of which feed directly into literacy.

Second, wraparound and activity provision is delivered through Kicks and Tricks, which the school identifies as its wraparound provider and also references as offering additional clubs through the week. That matters because for many families “clubs” are not optional extras, they are the practical bridge between work and school hours. The published structure includes breakfast club and a tiered after-school offer with different finish times.

Third, the early years environment is described in ways that connect directly to learning. The Curiosity Approach page describes a calm, neutral setting with open-ended resources, and it explicitly calls out role play resources such as blankets and teepees alongside play dough, intended to support expressive arts. That is extracurricular in the early years sense, because it goes beyond formal “lesson time” and shapes how children use independent learning time.

Because the school clubs page does not list a current club timetable, parents should assume the programme is flexible and changes across terms, then ask for the latest schedule during a visit.

The school day is clearly set out. The school operates a rolling start, with gates open from 8:30am and registration called at 8:40am, giving families a short arrival window that can reduce bottlenecks at the gate.

Wraparound care is available through Kicks and Tricks. Breakfast club runs 7:45am to 8:30am at £5 per session. After-school options run from 3:15pm with several end times, including a 5:45pm option, with published prices for each tier.

Term dates for the 2025 to 2026 year are published on the school website, including half-term windows, and several early finishes at 1:30pm at the end of terms. That early finish detail is easy to miss but has real childcare implications, so it is worth planning for in advance.

Uniform requirements are also published, including specific colour expectations and a clear list of standard items.

For travel, most local families will be arriving by foot, car or local bus routes depending on where they live in Stowmarket and Chilton Leys. If you are relying on public transport, build in a buffer and do a test run at drop-off time, as peak-time congestion can alter what looks reasonable on a map.

• A new school means a shorter track record. Grace Cook opened in September 2022, so published performance results and long-run trends are naturally limited at this point. This suits families comfortable with a school that is still building traditions and refining subject leadership across every area of the curriculum.

• Reception entry is competitive. The most recent shows oversubscription for Reception entry, with 83 applications for 29 offers (2.86 applications per place). Admission planning should include realistic alternatives, particularly if you are moving house for a place.

• Some documents reflect earlier leadership. The current headteacher is listed as Mrs Lisa Mayes on the school website and on official records, but the February 2025 inspection report names a different headteacher at the time. Ask how leadership continuity and curriculum development are being managed now, particularly in the wider curriculum beyond English and maths.

• Wraparound is provided through an external organisation. Many families will see this as a positive, since hours and prices are clearly published, but it also means you should check booking processes, availability, and what happens on early-finish days.

Grace Cook Primary School is a young, fast-growing free school that already shows strong foundations in routines, behaviour, and early years practice, backed by a February 2025 inspection profile with Good judgements across key areas and Outstanding early years provision. It suits families who prioritise a calm, well-organised start to primary, value nursery-to-primary continuity, and are comfortable choosing a school that is still building longer-term results history. The main challenge is admission demand at Reception, so planning with realistic backup options is sensible.