St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale

About St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale

St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School in Rochdale is a state primary for mixed pupils aged 4 to 11, sitting within the Rochdale local authority. Among the 69 primary schools in the borough, it ranks 37th on the key stage 2 reading, writing and maths expected standard metric, placing it in the bottom half of local schools. The top-performing peers in the area are All Souls Church of England Primary School, Hollin Primary School and Healey Foundation Primary School, all of which score higher on the same measure. St Gabriel's is a faith school with a Roman Catholic character, led by headteacher Laura Bolton, and it is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, 73 families applied for 29 places, with 26 first-preference offers made. The school has a capacity of 210 and currently has 191 pupils on roll, with 17.8 per cent eligible for free school meals, slightly above the national average.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in February 2024, St Gabriel's was rated Good overall, with behaviour and attitudes judged Outstanding. The early years provision, quality of education, personal development and leadership and management were all rated Good. This is consistent with its previous Good rating from 2018, though the earlier inspection had not graded behaviour and attitudes separately. At key stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 52 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, below the Rochdale local authority average of 58 per cent. In individual subjects, 76 per cent met the expected standard in maths, 66 per cent in reading and 66 per cent in writing. Higher-standard attainment was low: 3 per cent achieved the higher standard across all three subjects, 21 per cent in maths, 10 per cent in reading and 7 per cent in writing. Average scaled scores were 103 in maths and 102 in reading.

The school offers a range of facilities including a dining hall, music rooms, a forest school, outdoor playground, sports hall, art studios, ICT suite, gymnasium and a chapel. Sports provision includes rounders, tennis, swimming, dance, athletics, cricket and cross country, while clubs cover art, eco, chess, gardening and science. SEND support is available for pupils with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school does not have a nursery or sixth form. Given its oversubscribed status and faith character, St Gabriel's will suit Catholic families in Rochdale who prioritise a Good-rated school with strong behaviour standards and a broad range of extracurricular activities, though those seeking top-tier academic outcomes may want to consider higher-ranked local alternatives.

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