Where children learn, achieve and enjoy success

On behalf of the children, parents, staff and governors, I would like to welcome you to Old Heath Community Primary School and to our website. Our school is located on the outskirts of Colchester town centre at the junction of Old Heath and Abbots Road (CO2 8DD)

Our whole school approach to learning, working and playing is visible in our school motto of ....

'Tell the truth & show respect, think of others & try our best'

...which is at the centre of our Old Heath Heart weekly award for EY & KS1 'trophy' and the KS2 'trophy'. We all work together for everyone to have 'Old Heath Heart'.

Our last Ofsted Inspection was in December 2021. The inspection covered two days; 2nd & 3rd December. We continue to maintain our ‘Good’ grading and the full report for our inspection can be read here.

This is the opening paragraph of our report, which we are very proud of……

‘Pupils enjoy being part of this happy, hard-working school community. Pupils care about each other. They get on well with staff. Pupils and their parents told the inspector that the
school is a caring and welcoming place. Pupils are keen to uphold the school’s mantra of
‘Tell the truth and show respect, think of others and try our best’. Pupils behave well. They follow the school rules. Pupils want to learn, and they work hard.’

We are a one-form entry primary school, this means that we have one class of thirty for every year group: 'Early Years' as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage, Year 1 & Year 2 is Key Stage 1 (Infants) and Years 3 to 6 are Key Stage 2 (Juniors). Our school building is very 'old school', built in traditional red brick with arched wooden windows facing out on Old Heath Road. We are lucky that although we seem very small when looking at our front entrance, our building has two 'wings' of classrooms and our hall, catering kitchens that surround our playground, and then, leading off the playground, we have a small quiet garden, then a driveway/car park (staff only) leading up towards our field which has an outdoor gym, marked racetrack, sunken trampoline, basket ball hoops, a castle, an outside covered seating area and an area available for Forest School. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not run Breakfast or After School 'child minding' Clubs.

Amanda Mitchelson, Headteacher

Admissions

As of October 2025, we have had some movement out of school with recent house moves, so we do actually have a few spaces. Please give us a ring if you need a school place and we'll try to help. For mid-year transfers into the school, you will also need to contact Essex's Admission Team to make an application.

The application window for Reception places in Essex schools for Sept 2026 will open on 10th November 2025 to 15th January 2026. Our school tours for prospective parents and children begin after the October half-term. The tour is led by our Headteacher, Amanda Mitchelson (MrsM). We visit every class in the school ~ our children love to wave and welcome new faces! We spend a little extra time in our Early Years class so you can see how things are set up, sometimes we have a struggle retrieving visiting children from playing! We also have time for a chat in the Library for any 'burning' questions! As our classrooms and corridors are not massive, these are small group tours, approx 5-6 parents plus child. If you are bringing a much younger sibling in a buggy, we may need to ask you to carry your infant around school as buggies are difficult space wise!

Our tour dates are:

Wednesday 5th November at 9:45am

Tuesday 11th November at 9:45am

Monday 17th November at 9:45am

Monday 24th November at 2pm

Wednesday 3rd December at 2pm

Wednesday 7th January at 2pm

Essex's Admission Team can be contacted on 0345 603 2200 or email admissions@essex.gov.uk. 

Our Accessibility Statement

This website is run by Old Heath Community Primary School and this statement applies to www.oldheath.com (03.02.2025). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We've also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Please click here to read the rest of our Accessibility Statement