St Andrew's Catholic Primary School

About St Andrew's Catholic Primary School

St Andrew's Catholic Primary School sits slightly below the Solihull local authority average for Key Stage 2 performance, with 60% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with the LA average of 67%. That places the school 31st out of 42 primary schools in the borough, in the bottom half locally and around the 58th percentile nationally. The gap is modest but consistent — in reading, 73% hit the expected level and 43% reached the higher standard, while maths saw 70% at expected and 30% at higher. Writing is the weakest area, with only 10% achieving the higher standard, matching the combined higher figure. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it's hard to say whether pupils arrive below age-related expectations or whether progress is the issue. What is clear is that St Andrew's is not among Solihull's academic frontrunners, though it's not far off the pace either.

The school's most recent graded Ofsted inspection, in September 2016, rated it Good overall, with Good for leadership and management and Good for early years provision. A subsequent ungraded inspection in January 2024 confirmed the school remains Good. That's a notable improvement from its previous graded inspection in March 2014, when it was judged Requires Improvement. The turnaround in leadership under headteacher Cieran Flaherty appears to have been effective. The school is oversubscribed — for 28 places in the 2025/26 intake, it received 76 applications, with 26 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.71. That suggests strong local demand despite the middling exam results. The school has a Roman Catholic character and a nursery provision, and its 222 pupils slightly exceed the official capacity of 210, indicating it's running full.

Facilities include an ICT suite, gymnasium, sports hall, outdoor playground, forest school and a chapel, with sports ranging from football and cricket to gymnastics and athletics. Clubs cover coding, drama, film, book and art. The SEND provision is notably broad, supporting moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication, hearing impairment, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. For families prioritising a Catholic primary with strong pastoral support and a wide range of enrichment activities, St Andrew's offers a solid, well-regarded option — even if its academic outcomes are slightly behind the local average. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Oak Cottage Primary School, 2.2 km away, which may be worth comparing for families who place exam results above all else.

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