St Alban's Catholic Academy

About St Alban's Catholic Academy

St Alban's Catholic Academy sits below the Essex local authority average for Key Stage 2 outcomes, with 50% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with the LA average of 62%. That gap of 12 percentage points places the school in the bottom half of primary schools nationally, ranking 10,670th out of 13,686. Within Harlow specifically, it ranks 22nd out of 28 schools. The picture is more mixed when you look at individual subjects: 70% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and 67% in maths, while writing lagged at 60%. Only 3% of pupils achieved the higher standard across all three subjects, though 17% reached the higher bar in maths and 20% in reading. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is hard to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points, but the raw attainment figures suggest there is room for improvement compared with peers in the same local authority.

Despite the middling headline results, Ofsted rates the school as Good overall, a grade it has held consistently across its two most recent inspections. The most recent inspection, an ungraded visit in October 2024, confirmed that standards are being maintained. The graded inspection before that, in March 2015, rated the school Good across the board, including leadership and management, behaviour and attitudes, and early years provision. Parent feedback is overwhelmingly positive: 97% of the 32 respondents would recommend the school, and 78% strongly agreed that their child is happy there. Strong majorities also felt their child feels safe, that behaviour is good, and that the school has high expectations. The school's nursery provision means children can join from age three, and it is oversubscribed for Reception places in 2025/26, with 64 applications for 30 places and 29 first-preference offers made from 31 first-preference applications.

The school offers a solid range of facilities for a primary of 225 pupils, including a sports hall, gymnasium, playing fields, music rooms, an ICT suite, a sensory room and a chapel. Clubs include Eco Club, Choir, Chess, Book Club, Film Club and Coding, while sports on offer are dance, football, rounders and cricket. SEND provision covers a broad spectrum, including support for autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties, though the Parent View data on SEND support had no responses, so it is not possible to gauge satisfaction in that area. The school is Roman Catholic in character, which may appeal to families seeking a faith-based environment, but it is open to all. With an oversubscription ratio of 2.13, it is a popular choice locally, and families considering it should be aware that securing a place is competitive, particularly for first-preference applicants.

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