St Mary's Catholic Infant School

About St Mary's Catholic Infant School

St Mary's Catholic Infant School serves children from age 3 to 7 in Croydon, and its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022 rated the school Good overall. That puts it in the majority of local primaries — only 17 out of 88 schools in the borough achieved Outstanding. However, the school’s inspection breakdown shows two Outstanding grades: for personal development and for behaviour and attitudes. That’s a stronger showing than many Good-rated schools manage, and it suggests the school is particularly effective at building character and maintaining a calm, purposeful atmosphere. The school is oversubscribed by a wide margin — 179 applications for 59 places in the 2025/26 intake, with 68 first-preference applications and only 58 first-preference offers. That ratio of over three applicants per place tells you local families rate it highly, even if the headline Ofsted grade doesn’t match the nearest Outstanding school, Chestnut Park Primary, which sits just 0.8 km away.

Because St Mary’s is an infant school, it doesn’t publish Key Stage 2 results — its pupils move on to junior school before those tests. That means the local authority average of 66 per cent reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at KS2 isn’t directly comparable. What we do know is that the school’s early years provision was rated Good in 2022, and the previous inspection in 2007 had judged it Outstanding across the board. The current leadership and management is Good, and the quality of education is also Good. With 16 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals — slightly above the national average — the school is serving a mixed catchment. The fact that behaviour and attitudes scored Outstanding suggests children are engaged and ready to learn, which is a strong foundation for the academic progress they’ll make before moving on at age 7.

The school has a chapel on site and a Roman Catholic character, so it will naturally suit families who want a faith-based start to primary education. Facilities include a sensory room, music rooms, a library, and both a sports hall and playing fields, which is generous for an infant school. Sports on offer include swimming, tennis, cricket and athletics, and clubs range from coding and science to gardening and book club. The school’s SEND provisions cover speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, physical disability and visual impairment, so it’s equipped to support a range of additional needs. With a capacity of 180 but 209 pupils on roll, the school is clearly popular and running above its official number. Parents considering St Mary’s should be prepared for a competitive admissions process, particularly if they don’t have a church connection, and should note that children will need to transfer to a junior school at the end of Year 2.

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