St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Hunslet

About St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Hunslet

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Hunslet is a state-funded, mixed primary for children aged 4 to 11, and it’s a school that local families clearly want to get into. With 206 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210, it’s running very close to full, and the oversubscription figures tell a similar story: for 26 places in the 2025/26 intake, the school received 96 applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.69. Of those, 25 were first-preference offers, meaning nearly every place went to a family who put St Joseph’s top of their list. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals sits at 25.7%, which is noticeably above the national average for primary schools (typically around 23-24%) and suggests the school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage. That context makes its academic performance, which we’ll come to, all the more striking. The school’s religious character is Roman Catholic, and while the data doesn’t specify admissions criteria beyond oversubscription, the faith designation will shape the intake for many families.

Academically, St Joseph’s performs well above the local authority average. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 74% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a Leeds average of 61%. That places the school 42nd out of 204 primaries in the local authority, putting it in the top 25% nationally. The detail is strong across the board: 87% met the expected standard in reading, 87% in writing, and 94% in maths. At the higher standard, 42% of pupils achieved greater depth in reading, 35% in maths, and 13% in writing. Average scaled scores were 108 in both reading and maths, comfortably above the national benchmark of 100. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in October 2023, confirmed it remains Good, a rating it has held since its previous graded inspection in 2013. Leadership and management were also judged Good, and the early years provision was rated Good back in 2011.

The school offers a solid range of facilities and provisions that give a sense of its day-to-day character. There are playing fields, a sports hall, a library, a chapel, a sensory room, and a Forest School area, which suggests a commitment to outdoor learning. Clubs include chess, coding, gardening, art, choir, and book club, while sports on offer are football, cricket, athletics, dance, and rounders. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions covering dyslexia, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and social, emotional and mental health support. With 96 applications for 26 places, it’s a school that’s in genuine demand, and families outside the Catholic catchment or without a strong local connection will need to consider their chances carefully. It suits families who value strong academic outcomes in a faith-based setting, and who are comfortable with a school that draws from a community with above-average levels of pupil premium eligibility.

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