St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

About St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Bradford sits below the local authority average for key stage 2 outcomes, a gap that families considering the school will want to weigh carefully. In the 2023/24 academic year, 51% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a Bradford average of 59% for primary schools. That places the school 111th out of 153 primaries in the local authority, in the bottom half nationally. The picture is more mixed when you look at individual subjects: 72% hit the expected level in writing and 70% in maths, but reading lagged at 67%. Higher-attaining pupils are relatively few — 19% reached the higher standard in reading and just 7% in maths, with none in writing. For context, the nearest outstanding school, Dixons Music Primary, is only 0.4 kilometres away, so some families may be comparing options within a very small radius.

The school's most recent graded Ofsted inspection, in 2018, rated it Good overall, with Good for leadership and management, and a subsequent ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed it remains Good. The early years provision was also judged Good in that 2018 visit. Progress scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, so it is difficult to say how much value the school adds beyond the raw attainment figures. With 332 pupils on roll against a capacity of 350, the school is not at full capacity, though it was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry: 56 families applied for 32 places, and all 30 first-preference applicants received an offer. That suggests a solid local reputation, even if the headline results are below the LA norm.

St Joseph's is a Roman Catholic voluntary academy with nursery provision for children aged three and above, and it offers a broad set of facilities including a library, music rooms, art studios, a sports hall, playing fields, a forest school, a sensory room and a chapel. Clubs range from gardening and coding to book club and film club, and sports on offer include football, tennis, cricket and netball. The school has identified SEND support for moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families who prioritise a faith-based setting with a strong pastoral infrastructure and a wide range of enrichment activities, St Joseph's may still be a good fit — but those focused purely on academic outcomes at KS2 will want to look closely at the numbers and perhaps compare with higher-performing neighbours.

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