St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School

About St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School

St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School has turned a corner academically. Its most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in November 2024, confirmed that standards are being maintained at Good overall — a significant improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2019, when the school was rated Requires Improvement. The real headline, though, is the school’s performance in Key Stage 2 SATs. In the 2023/24 academic year, 73% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That is well above the local authority average of 61% for Cheshire West and Chester, and it places the school 29th out of 110 primary schools in the area — comfortably inside the top quarter. The data also shows strong individual subject scores, with average reading and maths scaled scores both sitting at 106, and 90% of pupils reaching the expected standard in each of those subjects individually.

Digging deeper into the Ofsted breakdown, inspectors awarded the school an Outstanding rating for personal development, while quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management all came out as Good. The early years provision was also rated Good. That personal development rating is backed up by the Parent View survey, where 98% of the 54 respondents would recommend the school. On specific questions, 91% strongly agreed that their child is happy, and 89% strongly agreed that their child feels safe. The school’s Progress 8 scores are not available, but the KS2 results tell a clear story of solid academic delivery. In writing, 77% of pupils hit the expected standard and 7% reached the higher standard; in reading, 23% achieved the higher standard. The school ranks 449th in the North West region out of over 2,000 primary schools, placing it in the top 22% regionally.

St Mary of the Angels is a smaller-than-average primary, with 207 pupils against a capacity of 189, and it is clearly popular: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 58 applications for just 29 places, an oversubscription ratio of 2:1. All 28 first-preference applicants were offered a place. The school is a Roman Catholic state primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 4 to 11, with no nursery or sixth form. Facilities include a sports hall, ICT suite, playing fields, a chapel and a Forest School programme. The school lists SEND support for moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, autistic spectrum disorder, visual impairment and social, emotional and mental health needs. Clubs range from drama and choir to chess, gardening and coding, while sports on offer include gymnastics, football, netball, cricket and athletics. This is a school that suits families looking for strong core academic results within a faith-based setting, backed by a clear improvement story and very high parental satisfaction.

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