St Chad's Catholic Primary School

About St Chad's Catholic Primary School

St Chad's Catholic Primary School is a popular choice among local families, with 23 first-preference applications for just 20 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, and 19 of those first-preference families receiving an offer. The school is officially oversubscribed, with an oversubscription ratio of 2.6, meaning for every place available there were more than two and a half applicants overall. That level of demand suggests parents who get a place tend to be pleased with what the school offers. The school is small, with 138 pupils against a capacity of 157, and just 1.4 per cent of children eligible for free school meals, a figure well below the national average. Headteacher John Riley leads a Roman Catholic primary in Chorley, Lancashire, for children aged 5 to 11. The most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in 2022, confirmed the school 'remains Good', a rating it has held consistently across its previous graded inspections.

Academically, St Chad's performs solidly against local and national benchmarks. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 70 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, comfortably above the Lancashire local authority average of 60 per cent. The school's average scores in reading and maths both sit at 107, a point above the national benchmark of 100. At the higher standard, 10 per cent of pupils achieved the higher combined benchmark, with 30 per cent reaching that level in maths, 25 per cent in reading and 20 per cent in writing. The school ranks 20th out of 46 primary schools in Chorley, placing it in the top half of the local authority, and 597th out of 2,065 primaries in the North West region. While no progress scores are available in the data, the attainment figures suggest children generally leave the school with results that match or exceed those of their peers locally.

The school offers a range of facilities including a chapel, music rooms, an ICT suite, art studios, an outdoor playground and a forest school, which supports outdoor learning. Sports provision includes football, netball, tennis and dance, while clubs extend to eco, gardening, art and drama. St Chad's also provides targeted support for pupils with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, speech, language and communication needs, and social, emotional and mental health needs. For families considering this school, the combination of strong local demand, above-average KS2 outcomes and a small, faith-based setting makes it particularly suited to those who value a close-knit community with a Catholic ethos. The nearest outstanding-rated primary is Chorley St James' Church of England Primary School, 3.3 kilometres away, but St Chad's consistent Good rating and oversubscribed status suggest it holds its own appeal.

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