St Brendan's Catholic Primary School

About St Brendan's Catholic Primary School

If you're a parent considering St Brendan's, the first thing you'll notice is that it's a genuinely popular school. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 56 applications for just 35 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.6. That means for every place, nearly two families wanted it. Crucially, of those 56 applications, 34 were first-preference choices, and every single one of those families was offered a place. So while the school is oversubscribed, if you live close enough or have a strong connection to the Catholic faith, your chances of getting in are very good indeed. The school is a state-funded Roman Catholic primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11, with a current roll of 298 children against a capacity of 315, so it's running close to full. Headteacher Leanne Brydon leads the school, which was rated Good by Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection in 2018, a rating it has held through a subsequent ungraded inspection in 2023.

Academically, St Brendan's presents a mixed picture. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 52% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That's below the local authority average of 61% for North Northamptonshire, and it places the school 70th out of 90 primary schools in the area. On the positive side, individual subject results show some real strengths: 82% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, and 70% did so in maths. Reading was lower at 62%. When it comes to higher-standard attainment, 24% achieved the higher standard in writing, 22% in maths, and 18% in reading. The school's average scaled scores were 103 in maths and 102 in reading. Ofsted's breakdown from the 2018 graded inspection rated both leadership and management and early years provision as Good, and the 2023 ungraded inspection confirmed the school remains Good overall.

Beyond the classroom, St Brendan's offers a solid range of facilities including a sports hall, playing fields, music rooms, art studios, an ICT suite, a sensory room and a chapel. Sports provision is strong, with football, cricket, athletics, swimming, netball, tennis and cross country all on offer. There's also a good selection of clubs including drama, gardening, choir and an eco club. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school does not have a nursery. St Brendan's is a faith-based school that is clearly well-regarded locally, particularly among Catholic families, but its academic results are more modest than some of its higher-performing peers in the area. It will suit families who value a strong community feel and a broad range of activities alongside a supportive approach to different learning needs.

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