Our Lady and St Swithin's Catholic Primary School

About Our Lady and St Swithin's Catholic Primary School

Our Lady and St Swithin's Catholic Primary School in Liverpool holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement judgement. The school’s most recent graded inspection in 2017 rated it Good overall, with Good marks for leadership, management, and early years provision. An ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. The most telling exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined: 56% in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure is slightly below the Liverpool local authority average of 59%, placing the school 61st out of 102 primary schools in the area. While the combined figure is a touch behind the local norm, individual subject scores tell a more nuanced story.

Looking at the KS2 results more closely, 69% of pupils met the expected standard in maths, with an average scaled score of 106. In reading, 66% hit the expected mark, with an average score of 105. Writing saw 63% reach the expected level. However, the proportion reaching the higher standard was low: 19% in reading, 13% in maths, and none in writing or the combined measure. This suggests the school is effective at moving most children to a solid baseline but less so at stretching the highest achievers. Nationally, the school ranks in the bottom half, at the 67th percentile among all primaries. In the North West region, it sits around the 64th percentile. The school’s Progress 8 scores for reading, writing, and maths are not available in the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds beyond raw attainment.

The school is a Roman Catholic primary for mixed genders aged 3 to 11, with nursery provision on site. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 34 applications for 23 places, with all 23 first-preference families receiving an offer. The oversubscription ratio of 1.48 indicates healthy local demand. Facilities include a forest school, chapel, music rooms, sports hall, and ICT suite. Sports on offer include tennis, swimming, netball, and football, while clubs range from coding and drama to choir and film club. The school has a broad SEND offer, with provisions for dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, autism, and physical disabilities, plus a resourced provision. With 56.1% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively disadvantaged community. This is a school that has turned around its Ofsted rating and now provides a solid, inclusive education, particularly suited to Catholic families in Liverpool seeking a supportive primary with strong early years and SEND support.

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