Cottesmore St Mary's Catholic Primary School

About Cottesmore St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Cottesmore St Mary's Catholic Primary School holds a Good rating from its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, but the detail beneath that headline tells a more nuanced story. The school was rated Outstanding for personal development, a standout category that reflects a deliberate focus on character and wellbeing. In terms of academic outcomes, the most telling metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined: 70% did so in the 2023/24 academic year. That is comfortably above the local authority average of 59% for primary schools in Brighton and Hove, and it places Cottesmore 8th out of 40 schools in the area. The school also ranks in the top 50 nationally for this combined measure, which is a solid indicator of consistent teaching across the core subjects.

Digging into the individual subject scores, reading stands out as a particular strength. 91% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and 42% reached the higher standard — well above the national benchmark. The average reading score was 109, compared with 105 in maths. Writing and maths were more mixed: 80% achieved the expected standard in writing, but only 6% reached the higher level, while 77% met the expected standard in maths and 34% hit the higher tier. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is hard to measure how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points, but the raw attainment figures are strong. In its previous inspection in 2012, the school was also rated Good overall, so the current rating reflects sustained quality rather than a recent improvement or decline.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 60 places in the 2025/26 intake, there were 178 applications, with 85 listing it as first preference. That means a first-preference offer rate of around 71%, and an overall oversubscription ratio of nearly 3:1. Facilities include a sensory room, forest school, chapel, sports hall and playing fields, and the school runs clubs in choir, gardening, art and drama. SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties, speech and language needs, autism and physical disabilities. This is a Catholic primary with a strong academic record and a clear pastoral ethos, best suited to families who value structured personal development alongside solid exam results. The lack of nursery provision means children join in Reception, and the school is a single-form entry with no sixth form.

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