St Hedda's Catholic Primary School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy

About St Hedda's Catholic Primary School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy

St Hedda's Catholic Primary School in North Yorkshire has been rated Outstanding across the board in its most recent Ofsted inspection, which took place in January 2025. Inspectors awarded the top grade of 1 for quality of education, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management. This is a school that has clearly maintained very high standards over time, having also been judged Outstanding in its previous graded inspection back in 2013. With just 16 pupils on roll against a capacity of 51, it is an exceptionally small setting, and the data suggests it is also a popular one: for the 2025/26 admissions round, the school received 4 applications for just 2 available places, with 2 of those being first preferences. The oversubscription ratio stands at 2, meaning twice as many families applied as there were places. On the key academic metric for primary schools, the local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment sits at 60, though St Hedda's own KS2 results are not separately published in this data.

The school's Ofsted report highlights that personal development and behaviour are both rated Outstanding, and the Parent View survey backs this up with remarkable consistency. Every single one of the 12 respondents said they would recommend the school to other parents, and 100 per cent strongly agreed that their child feels safe and that the school keeps them well informed about their child's progress. On the question of whether their child is happy, 83 per cent strongly agreed and the remaining 17 per cent agreed, with no neutral or negative responses at all. The school also scores extremely well on communication: 92 per cent strongly agreed that the school makes them aware of what their child will learn, and 100 per cent strongly agreed that the school lets them know how their child is doing. Concerns are dealt with properly according to 75 per cent who strongly agreed, with the rest marking it as not applicable. The school's SEND provision for social, emotional and mental health needs is noted, though no parents responded to the specific SEND question in the survey.

St Hedda's is a Roman Catholic voluntary academy with nursery provision for children from age 3, and it serves a mixed-gender cohort up to Year 6. The facilities are surprisingly extensive for such a small school, including a library, ICT suite, music rooms, a sports hall, playing fields, a forest school area, and a chapel. Clubs on offer include coding, choir, art club and film club, while sports provision covers athletics, swimming, dance, cricket and rounders. The school is one of only 16 primary schools in North Yorkshire rated Outstanding out of 292 in total, which places it in a very select group. The nearest other Outstanding primary is Glaisdale Primary School, 3.2 km away. For families who value a tight-knit, faith-based environment with strong academic and pastoral outcomes, and who are comfortable with a very small cohort, St Hedda's is clearly a compelling choice, though the competition for places is stiff.

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