St Aloysius Catholic Infant School, Hebburn

About St Aloysius Catholic Infant School, Hebburn

St Aloysius Catholic Infant School, Hebburn is one of only five primary schools in South Tyneside rated Outstanding by Ofsted, placing it among the top-performing state primaries in the local authority. Its most recent inspection, an ungraded visit in May 2025, confirmed that standards are being maintained, and the school holds Outstanding grades for early years provision, leadership and management, and overall effectiveness from its last graded inspection in 2019. Among its closest peers in the area, the school sits alongside Biddick Hall Junior School, Cleadon Church of England Academy, and Forest View Primary, all of which score highly on the local ranking. St Aloysius is a Roman Catholic infant school for children aged three to seven, with a nursery on site, and is led by headteacher Anna Tumelty. It is directly paired with St Aloysius Catholic Junior School Academy, which is also rated Outstanding, meaning families can expect a consistent standard of education through to age 11.

Academic outcomes are not published for infant schools in the same way as for junior or primary schools, but the Ofsted inspection provides a strong picture of quality. The school was rated Outstanding for early years provision, which covers the nursery and Reception classes, and leadership and management also received the top grade. In the most recent parent view survey, which ran from September 2024 to September 2025, 98% of the 58 respondents said their child is happy at the school, and 100% agreed their child feels safe. 95% would recommend the school to other parents. While the school does not publish Key Stage 2 results because its pupils move on at age seven, the local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment is 64%, and the school’s feeder junior school is also Outstanding, which suggests strong foundations are being laid. The school is oversubscribed, with 110 applications for 60 places in the 2025/26 intake, and 72 of those were first preferences, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.83.

The school offers a broad range of facilities for such a young age group, including a forest school, sensory room, chapel, art studios, music rooms, and an ICT suite. Sports on offer include football, tennis, athletics, rounders, netball, and cross country, and there are clubs such as art, coding, chess, science, and eco club. SEND provisions cover social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, multi-sensory impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder, though the parent view data shows no responses from parents of SEND children, so it is difficult to gauge how well these are delivered in practice. The school is a state-funded Roman Catholic primary, so it will have a faith-based admissions policy, and with 225 pupils against a capacity of 180, it is clearly popular. This is a school that will particularly suit Catholic families in Hebburn and South Tyneside who want a strong early years start and a seamless transition to an Outstanding junior school, but given its oversubscription, applying early and as a first preference is essential.

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