St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School

About St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School

St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School sits comfortably above the local authority average for Key Stage 2 outcomes, with 69% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared to a Brighton and Hove average of 59%. That ten-point gap places the school 9th out of 40 primary schools in the authority, putting it in the top quarter locally. Its ranking score of 69 also puts it within the top 50 nationally for this metric. The school is heavily oversubscribed — 93 applications for 30 places in the 2025/26 intake, with 36 first-preference applications and only 29 first-preference offers — which suggests local families see it as a strong option. The most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in November 2021, confirmed the school remains Good, a rating it has held consistently across its two most recent graded inspections.

Digging into the KS2 results, the school performs particularly well in reading, where 84% of pupils met the expected standard and 38% achieved a higher standard, with an average scaled score of 107. Writing also looks strong, with 88% at expected and 9% at a higher level. Maths is more mixed: 69% reached the expected standard and 19% reached a higher standard, with an average score of 104. The proportion of pupils achieving a higher standard across all three subjects (reading, writing and maths) is just 3%, which is low compared to the expected rates in reading and writing individually. The school has a relatively low proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 10.6%, which is below the national average for primary schools, and this may partly explain the above-average outcomes. There is no Progress 8 data available for this primary school, so it is not possible to measure how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points.

The school offers a broad range of facilities for a primary of its size, including a sensory room, music rooms, art studios, a chapel, an ICT suite and a gymnasium. Sports provision covers netball, athletics, cricket, gymnastics, cross country and football, while clubs include choir, gardening, film club and coding. SEND provision is well-documented, with support for specific learning difficulties (including dyslexia), moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, visual impairment, physical disability and social, emotional and mental health needs. The school is Roman Catholic in character, which may be a factor for families prioritising a faith-based education, though admissions data does not specify whether faith criteria are applied. With 217 pupils against a capacity of 218, the school is essentially full, and the 3.1 oversubscription ratio means parents should be prepared for a competitive application process.

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