St Gilbert's RC Primary School

About St Gilbert's RC Primary School

Of the 62 parents who responded to Ofsted’s Parent View survey between September 2024 and September 2025, 76% said they would recommend St Gilbert’s RC Primary School to other families. That’s a solid majority, though it leaves nearly a quarter who wouldn’t, which is worth noting. The school is clearly popular locally: for 2025/26 admissions, it received 59 applications for just 30 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.97. Of those, 32 families put it as their first preference, and 28 of them were offered a place. Parents generally feel their children are happy and safe here — 90% either agreed or strongly agreed with the first statement, and 92% with the second. Behaviour is seen positively too, with 91% agreeing the school ensures good conduct. However, the picture is more mixed on SEND support: only 42% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that children with special educational needs get the help they need, while 50% disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Academically, St Gilbert’s sits in the middle of the pack. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 61% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — exactly in line with the Salford local authority average of 61%. That places the school 29th out of 65 primary schools in the borough, and 7,474th nationally out of 13,686. On individual subjects, reading was a relative strength: 94% of pupils met the expected standard, and 26% reached the higher standard. Maths was a bit lower, with 77% at expected and 23% at higher. Writing was the weakest area, with only 6% hitting the higher standard. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in March 2025, judged it Good across all graded areas — a clear improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in March 2023. The early years provision was also rated Good.

The school has a Roman Catholic character and offers nursery provision for children from age three. Its facilities are generous for a primary: a library, ICT suite, gymnasium, music rooms, art studios, sports hall, chapel and playing fields. There’s a decent range of sports on offer, including swimming, netball and tennis, plus clubs like gardening, coding and eco club. The school supports children with a variety of SEND needs, including dyslexia, speech and language difficulties, hearing impairment and autistic spectrum disorder — though as noted, parent satisfaction on this front is low. With 237 pupils on roll against a capacity of 260, there’s a little breathing room, but the oversubscription figures suggest it’s a sought-after choice for Catholic families in Salford. The nearest Outstanding-rated primary is St Mary’s RC Primary School, 1.9 km away.

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