St Clare's Catholic Primary School

About St Clare's Catholic Primary School

St Clare's Catholic Primary School sits in the bottom half of primary schools in Cheshire West and Chester when ranked by the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2. With 50% of its Year 6 pupils hitting that combined benchmark in the 2023/24 academic year, the school falls noticeably short of the local authority average of 61%. That gap is significant and places the school 83rd out of 110 primaries in the area. The picture is mixed when you look at individual subjects: 75% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, which is a solid result, but maths and writing lag behind at 57% and 61% respectively. Only 4% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, and the school's ranking places it in the bottom 50 nationally. For parents weighing up options, these headline metrics suggest that while some children do well, the school has ground to make up compared with its local peers.

The school's most recent graded Ofsted inspection, in 2015, rated it Good overall, with leadership and management and early years provision both judged Good. A subsequent ungraded inspection in December 2024 confirmed that standards had been maintained. That's a notable improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2013, when the school was rated Requires Improvement. The Ofsted breakdown shows that early years provision is Good, though there are no published ratings for behaviour, personal development or the quality of education from the most recent graded visit. Parent View responses, collected between September 2024 and September 2025, paint a very positive picture: 92% of the 24 respondents would recommend the school, and 79% strongly agreed that their child is happy there. Strong majorities also strongly agreed that the school supports personal development and offers a good range of clubs and activities, though a small minority expressed concerns about how concerns are handled and how SEND needs are met.

St Clare's is a small Roman Catholic primary school with 172 pupils, just below its capacity of 180. It is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, with 32 applications for 22 places and 17 first-preference offers made. The school serves a community with above-average disadvantage: 38.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Facilities include a sensory room, gymnasium, music rooms, art studios, ICT suite, sports hall and a chapel, and the school offers clubs such as science, choir, coding, gardening and art. It has identified SEND provisions for moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech language and communication, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families who prioritise a strong sense of community and a faith-based environment, St Clare's clearly inspires loyalty among its parents. However, those focused on academic outcomes relative to the local average may want to look more closely at how the school plans to close the gap in maths and writing.

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