Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Thornton Cleveleys

About Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Thornton Cleveleys

Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Thornton Cleveleys, sits within Lancashire local authority and is one of 480 state primary schools in the area. In the most recent local rankings, it placed 264th, placing it in the bottom half of schools in the county. For context, the top-performing peers in the same local authority include Crawford Village Primary School, New Longton All Saints CofE Primary School, and St George's Church of England Primary School, Chorley. Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic mixed primary for children aged 4 to 11, with headteacher Paul Eaton at the helm. The school has a capacity of 210 pupils and currently enrols 200, with 20.5 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals. It does not offer nursery provision or a sixth form. The nearest primary school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Poulton-le-Fylde the Breck Primary School, located 3.5 kilometres away.

In its most recent graded Ofsted inspection in 2016, Sacred Heart was rated Good overall, with Good ratings for leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness. An ungraded inspection in 2020 confirmed the school remains Good. Academically, the school’s Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show that 57 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined. This is slightly below the Lancashire local authority average of 60 per cent. In individual subjects, 68 per cent reached the expected standard in reading, 71 per cent in maths, and 89 per cent in writing. At the higher standard, 14 per cent achieved the higher benchmark across all three subjects. Average scaled scores were 104 in both reading and maths. Nationally, the school ranks in the 65th percentile among all primary schools, and within the North West region it sits in the 62nd percentile.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, with 57 applications for 18 places and 17 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.17. Facilities include a library, gymnasium, playing fields, outdoor playground, sensory room, sports hall, ICT suite, music rooms, and a chapel. Sports on offer are netball, gymnastics, rounders, and football, while clubs include Eco Club, Art Club, Science Club, and Drama. Sacred Heart has a broad range of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulties. This makes it a practical choice for families in the Wyre area seeking a faith-based primary with strong pastoral and SEND support, though those prioritising top academic rankings may want to look at the higher-performing peers nearby.

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