St Joseph's Catholic Voluntary Academy

About St Joseph's Catholic Voluntary Academy

St Joseph's Catholic Voluntary Academy in Derbyshire Dales holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a significant improvement from its previous inspection in 2015 when it was rated Inadequate. The school's most recent graded inspection in 2019 gave it Good marks across all five categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management. A subsequent ungraded inspection in March 2025 confirmed that standards have been maintained. On the key academic metric for primary schools, 57% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined in the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments. This places the school just below the Derbyshire local authority average of 59%. Nationally, St Joseph's ranks in the 62nd percentile for this measure, and within the Derbyshire Dales local authority it sits 18th out of 35 primary schools, putting it in the bottom half of its immediate area.

Looking more closely at the individual subject scores, 71% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading and in maths, while 62% did so in writing. At the higher standard, 19% achieved in maths, 5% in reading, and none in writing or the combined measure. The average scaled scores were 103 in reading and 102 in maths. It is worth noting that progress scores are not available for this school, so we cannot compare how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. The school's ranking score of 57 places it in the bottom 50% tier nationally. For context, the top-performing primaries in the local authority, such as Wessington Primary School and Redhill Primary School, achieved a perfect ranking score of 100, so there is a noticeable gap between St Joseph's and the highest achievers in the area.

St Joseph's is a smaller than average primary, with 156 pupils against a capacity of 240, and it offers nursery provision for children aged three and over. The school is oversubscribed for Reception places in 2025/26, receiving 19 applications for 11 places, with all 11 first-preference applicants being offered a spot. Facilities include a library, ICT suite, gymnasium, chapel, and an outdoor playground. Sports on offer include athletics, cricket, rounders, swimming and cross country, while clubs include drama, film club and science club. The school has a range of SEND provisions covering dyslexia, speech and language needs, autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, and physical disabilities. Parent feedback is overwhelmingly positive: 100% of the ten respondents would recommend the school, and 70% strongly agreed that their child is happy and that the school has high expectations. This is a school that has clearly turned around from a difficult past and now offers a solid, well-regarded education for local Catholic and community families.

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