St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy

About St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy sits within the Redbridge local authority, a London borough with 53 primary schools, 12 of which hold an Outstanding Ofsted rating. The school itself is ranked 43rd out of 50 in the LA on the key stage 2 expected standard metric, placing it in the bottom tier locally. Its top-performing peers in the area include Al-Noor Voluntary Aided Muslim Primary School, St Bede's Catholic Primary School, and Our Lady of Lourdes RC Primary School, all of which score notably higher on the same ranking. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Cleveland Road Primary School, 1.7 km away. For families weighing up Catholic primary options in Redbridge, St Aidan's is a smaller-than-average school with 241 pupils against a capacity of 420, and it has a nursery provision for children from age three. The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, 56 families applied for 24 places, with 20 of those coming as first preferences, all of which were offered.

Academically, St Aidan's most recent Ofsted inspection in September 2022 rated it Good across all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision. This marks a clear improvement from its previous inspection in December 2018, when the school was rated Requires Improvement overall. At key stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 64% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is below the Redbridge LA average of 74%. However, the school's individual subject scores tell a more nuanced story: 89% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, 75% in maths, and 70% in reading. At the higher standard, 14% achieved the combined benchmark, with maths and reading both seeing 32% and 34% respectively. Average scaled scores sat at 106 for both reading and maths. Nationally, the school ranks in the 46th percentile among all primary schools, and within London it sits in the 68th percentile.

The school offers a broad set of facilities including a sensory room, forest school area, chapel, sports hall, ICT suite, and art studios. Sports provision covers athletics, dance, swimming, netball, cricket, rounders, and cross country, while extracurricular clubs include coding, chess, and science club. For families with children who have additional needs, St Aidan's lists SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. With a third of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively diverse intake. Given its oversubscription rate of 2.33 applicants per place, it is a popular choice among local Catholic families, though its academic outcomes sit below the LA average. This school will particularly suit families who value a faith-based setting with strong pastoral support and a range of enrichment activities over top-tier exam results.

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