St Charles' Catholic Primary School

About St Charles' Catholic Primary School

Parents considering St Charles' Catholic Primary School will find a school that is clearly popular with local families. In the 2025/26 admissions round, the school received 110 applications for just 30 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.67. Of those, 37 families put it as their first preference, and all 30 places went to first-preference applicants. That level of demand suggests a strong reputation among parents who know the area. The school is a Roman Catholic state primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 3 to 11, with nursery provision on site. Headteacher Louise Nealings leads a school of 241 pupils, which is slightly below its capacity of 262. Just 6.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the national average, which may reflect the demographic of the catchment area. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in September 2023, confirmed that it remains Good, a rating it has held consistently across its previous graded inspections.

Academically, St Charles' performs very strongly. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 83% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, well above the local authority average of 63%. That puts the school third out of 55 primary schools in Newcastle upon Tyne, placing it in the top 10% locally. Nationally, it ranks in the top 8% of all primary schools. The school's overall score of 83 on the expected standard metric is strong, and the detail is impressive too: 93% of pupils reached the expected standard in maths, with an average scaled score of 114, and 87% did so in both reading and writing. At the higher standard, 37% achieved the top marks across all three subjects, with maths particularly strong at 77% reaching the higher threshold. Progress scores are not available in the data, but the attainment figures alone make this one of the highest-performing primaries in the region.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a library, ICT suite, music rooms, gymnasium, playing fields and a chapel. Sports provision covers rounders, dance, athletics, swimming and cross country, while clubs include science, book, art, coding and chess. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists SEND provision for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language communication needs, social and emotional mental health, visual impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. The nearest outstanding-rated school is Gosforth Park First School, 0.9 km away, but St Charles' own strong results and high demand suggest it is a realistic first choice for Catholic families or those who value academic rigour within a faith setting. Given the oversubscription, applying as a first preference is essential.

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