St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

About St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in East Staffordshire has been rated Outstanding in every category of its most recent Ofsted inspection, a significant step up from its previous Good rating in 2013. The inspection, carried out in June 2024, awarded top marks for overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management. This places the school among a select group: only 20 out of 308 primary schools in the Staffordshire local authority hold an Outstanding rating. The most telling exam metric comes from the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, where 85% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure is well above the local authority average of 65%, and it ranks St Joseph’s third out of 23 primary schools in East Staffordshire, putting it in the top 10% nationally.

Digging deeper into the 2023/24 SATs results, the school’s performance is consistently strong across individual subjects. In reading, 93% of pupils reached the expected standard, and 59% achieved the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 110. Maths tells a similar story: 85% at expected and 59% at higher, also with an average score of 110. Writing saw 93% at expected and 44% at the higher level. These figures are particularly impressive given that 16% of the school’s 181 pupils are eligible for free school meals, a proportion that suggests the school is serving a mixed catchment well. Nationally, St Joseph’s ranks 711th out of 13,686 primary schools, placing it in the top 5% of all schools in the country. In the West Midlands region, it sits 65th out of 1,378 schools, again in the top 5%. The school’s ranking score of 85, based on the combined expected standard metric, confirms it as a high-achieving primary.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, with 46 applications for just 18 places, and all 18 first-preference applicants were offered a spot. That oversubscription ratio of 2.56 to 1 reflects its popularity. St Joseph’s is a Roman Catholic state primary for children aged 3 to 11, with nursery provision available. Facilities include art studios, music rooms, an ICT suite, a sports hall, playing fields, an outdoor playground, and a chapel. Sports on offer include cricket, football, gymnastics, swimming and athletics, while clubs cover gardening, drama and coding. The school has dedicated SEND provisions for moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This combination of strong academic outcomes, a faith-based ethos, and good facilities makes it a strong fit for Catholic families in East Staffordshire who prioritise both attainment and pastoral support.

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