St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy

About St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy

St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy sits within St. Helens local authority, a borough with 54 primary schools of which only seven hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. The school itself is rated Requires Improvement, placing it some distance behind the top-performing peers in the area. The highest-ranked local primary is St Mary's Catholic Primary School, followed by St Mary & St Thomas CofE Primary School and St Aidan's CofE Primary School Billinge. For families prioritising an Outstanding grade, the nearest such school is St Peter's CofE Primary School, just one kilometre away. St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy is a small, state-funded Roman Catholic infant school for children aged three to seven, with a current roll of 177 pupils against a capacity of 232. It has a nursery provision and is mixed gender. The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, receiving 90 applications for 54 places, with 48 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.67.

In its most recent graded inspection in June 2022, Ofsted judged the school's overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement, a rating it also held in its previous inspection in 2018. The breakdown shows two areas rated Good: personal development, and behaviour and attitudes. However, the quality of education, leadership and management, and early years provision all remain at Requires Improvement. The school does not publish Key Stage 2 results because it only teaches up to age seven, so there is no SATs data to compare against the St. Helens local authority average of 61 per cent achieving the expected standard. Parents considering this school should note that the infant-only structure means children will need to transfer to a junior or all-through primary at age seven, which is a key transition point. The school's Roman Catholic character may be a factor for families seeking a faith-based setting.

The school offers a range of facilities including a library, playing fields, art studios, a dining hall, an ICT suite and a chapel. Sports provision covers swimming, cricket, cross country, tennis, football and athletics, while extracurricular clubs include film, art, gardening, coding, chess and eco club. For children with additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions for social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and physical disability. With 10.7 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively mixed catchment. Given its Requires Improvement rating, this school may suit families who value its faith ethos and small infant-only setting, and who are comfortable with the need to plan for a subsequent school move at age seven. The oversubscription figures suggest strong local demand despite the Ofsted rating.

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