St Catherine's CofE Primary School

About St Catherine's CofE Primary School

St Catherine's CofE Primary School is a state-funded Church of England primary in Bolton, a local authority with 97 primary schools in total. It sits at rank 78 in the LA, placing it in the bottom half of Bolton primaries by its KS2 reading, writing and maths expected standard score. The top three performing peers in the area are The Olive School, Bolton, The Oaks Primary School and Beaumont Primary School, all of which score considerably higher on the same metric. The nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Blackrod Primary School, 1.6 kilometres away. St Catherine's itself was rated Good in its most recent graded inspection in 2014, and an ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed it remains Good. The school has held a Good rating across both its inspections, with leadership and management also judged Good in 2014. Early years provision was graded as Requires Improvement in 2009 but has not been separately assessed since.

In the 2023/24 academic year, 48 per cent of pupils at St Catherine's met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at KS2. That is well below the Bolton LA average of 66 per cent. Just 3 per cent reached the higher standard across all three subjects. Looking at individual subjects, 74 per cent met the expected standard in reading, 61 per cent in writing and 71 per cent in maths. Average scaled scores were 105 in both reading and maths, which is in line with the national average of 100. The proportion reaching the higher standard was 16 per cent in reading, 3 per cent in writing and 26 per cent in maths. Progress scores are not available for any of the three subjects, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. Nationally, the school ranks at the 81st percentile among primary schools, and in the North West region it sits at the 79th percentile.

The school has a capacity of 236 pupils and is currently full, with 236 on roll. It was oversubscribed for 2025/26 reception places, receiving 71 applications for 30 places, of which 26 were offered to first-preference families. The oversubscription ratio was 2.37 applicants per place. St Catherine's has a nursery provision for three-year-olds. It offers a broad set of facilities including a library, art studios, music rooms, an ICT suite, a sensory room, a forest school and a chapel. Sports on offer include football, netball, dance, athletics, swimming and cross country, and there are clubs for coding, science, film and art. The school has identified SEND provision for moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, visual impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. With 19.7 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with above-average disadvantage. It will suit families who value a Church of England ethos and a full range of on-site facilities, and who are comfortable with a school that is popular locally but sits below the LA average on academic outcomes.

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