St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Blackhall

About St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Blackhall

Parents at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Blackhall are overwhelmingly positive about their experience. In the most recent Parent View survey, covering September 2024 to September 2025, 100% of the 17 respondents said they would recommend the school to other parents. Every parent who answered agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy at the school, and 100% strongly agreed that their child feels safe and that the school ensures pupils are well behaved. The school is clearly popular locally: for the 2025/26 academic year, it received 12 applications for just 7 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.71. All 7 first-preference applicants were offered a place, but the overall demand shows that families in the area see it as a strong choice. The school’s Roman Catholic character is central to its identity, and its small size — just 65 pupils against a capacity of 94 — means class groups are intimate and staff are likely to know every child well.

Academically, St Joseph’s performs solidly against national and local benchmarks. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 63% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is just above the County Durham local authority average of 62%. The school’s ranking in the LA places it 91st out of 208 primary schools, putting it in the top half locally. A quarter of pupils achieved the higher standard in reading, writing and maths, and the school’s average maths scaled score of 111 is notably strong. Reading and maths both saw 50% of pupils reach the higher standard, while writing saw 25%. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in January 2025, judged that it had improved significantly since its previous graded inspection, and it continues to hold a Good rating overall, with Good marks for early years provision, leadership and management, and overall effectiveness.

The school offers a range of facilities including a chapel, music rooms, an ICT suite, a sensory room and art studios, and runs clubs such as book club, film club, science club, art club and coding. Sports on offer include football, netball, gymnastics, athletics, rounders and cross country. For children with additional needs, the school has stated provisions for moderate learning difficulty, speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulty or disability. With a nursery on site, it caters for children from age three. The school’s small roll and high parent satisfaction suggest it suits families who want a close-knit, faith-based primary with strong pastoral care and a clear sense of community. The oversubscription means applying early, ideally as a first preference, is advisable.

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