Saint Mary's Catholic Primary School

About Saint Mary's Catholic Primary School

Saint Mary's Catholic Primary School in Cheshire East presents a mixed picture when compared against the local authority average for primary schools. Its key headline metric — the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — sits at 58%, which is six percentage points below the LA average of 64%. That places the school 74th out of 113 primary schools in the borough, firmly in the bottom half of the local league table. However, the story isn't uniformly disappointing. In reading, 79% of pupils met the expected standard and the average reading score was 106, both respectable figures. Maths tells a slightly different story: 68% reached the expected standard with an average score of 102, while only 11% achieved the higher standard. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in May 2024, rated it Requires Improvement across all categories — a notable drop from its previous Outstanding rating in 2017. This decline is the most striking feature of the school's current profile.

Looking more closely at the academic outcomes from the 2023/24 KS2 assessments, the data reveals a school where reading is a relative strength but writing and maths lag behind. While 79% of pupils met the expected standard in reading and 74% in writing, only 68% did so in maths. No pupils achieved the higher standard in either reading, writing and maths combined or in writing alone, and only 11% reached that level in maths. The school's ranking nationally places it in the bottom 50% of all primary schools, with a percentile of 62. In the North West region it sits at 1209 out of 2065 schools. Compared with its previous inspection, where leadership and management and overall effectiveness were judged Outstanding, the current Requires Improvement rating across all five categories — including early years provision, behaviour and attitudes, and personal development — represents a significant step back. The school has held a Good or Outstanding rating historically, but the 2024 inspection marks a clear change in trajectory.

Saint Mary's is a smaller-than-average primary with 199 pupils against a capacity of 244, and it offers nursery provision for children aged two and above. The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, 44 applications were received for 24 places, with 18 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.83. Facilities include playing fields, a library, art studios, a sports hall and a chapel, and the school runs clubs for coding, choir and gardening. Sports on offer include swimming, athletics, football, netball and dance. The school's SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. For Catholic families in Cheshire East who value a faith-based setting, Saint Mary's offers a clear community identity, though the Requires Improvement rating means parents will want to satisfy themselves that the school's current leadership under headteacher Amy Butterfield is addressing the concerns raised by Ofsted.

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