Holy Family Catholic Primary School

About Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Holy Family Catholic Primary School sits within the Essex local authority, in the Castle Point borough, and is one of 444 primary schools across the county. Its most recent ranking places it 18th out of 19 schools in Castle Point, putting it in the bottom half of its immediate local area. For context, the top-performing peers in the same authority include Stambridge Primary School and St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School in Colchester, both of which achieved a perfect ranking score of 100, alongside Great Totham Primary School on 95. The nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Kingston Primary School, just one kilometre away. Holy Family itself was graded Good in its most recent inspection in February 2023, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2016. The school is led by headteacher Daniel Craft and has a Roman Catholic religious character, with a nursery provision for children aged three and above.

Academically, Holy Family’s Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 43%, notably below the Essex local authority average of 62%. In individual subjects, 63% met the expected standard in reading, 57% in maths, and 53% in writing. At the higher standard, 10% of pupils achieved the top level across all three subjects, with maths leading at 30%, followed by reading and writing both at 17%. Average scaled scores were 102 for reading and 103 for maths. The school’s national ranking places it in the bottom 50% of primary schools, at 12,000 out of 13,686, and within the East of England region it ranks 1,355th out of 1,612. The Ofsted inspection noted that behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management are all Good, with early years provision also rated Good.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, with 64 applications for just 18 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.56. All 18 first-preference applicants were offered a place. Holy Family has a capacity of 232 and currently houses 228 pupils, so it is running very close to full. Facilities include a sensory room, sports hall, playing fields, forest school, dining hall, and a chapel. Sports offered are tennis, swimming, athletics, and dance, while clubs include coding, chess, choir, and book club. The school provides for a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a faith-based primary with strong local demand, suited to families who value its Catholic character and inclusive SEND support, though its academic outcomes are below the local average.

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