St Mary's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy

St Mary's Catholic Primary School sits slightly below the North Yorkshire average for the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2. The school recorded 58% achieving this benchmark in the 2023/24 academic year, compared with the local authority average of 60% for primary schools. That places it 127th out of 292 primary schools in the county, putting it in the bottom half of the LA rankings. However, the picture is more nuanced when you look at individual subjects. Reading stands out as a relative strength, with 77% of pupils meeting the expected standard, well above the national average. Maths and writing are lower, at 61% and 71% respectively. The school's average scaled scores in reading and maths are both 103, which is in line with the national average of 100. So while the headline combined figure is a touch below the LA norm, the school is not underperforming across the board — reading results are notably solid.

Ofsted inspectors visited in July 2023 and rated the school Good across every category, including behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This is consistent with its previous inspection in 2013, which also awarded a Good rating. The school has held this standard for over a decade, with no signs of slipping. At Key Stage 2, 19% of pupils achieved the higher standard in reading and the same proportion in maths, though only 6% did so in writing. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available in the data, so it is difficult to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. But the Ofsted report confirms that early years provision is Good, and the school has a nursery for children aged two and above, which may appeal to families looking for continuity from pre-school through to Year 6.

With 199 pupils against a capacity of 251, the school is not full, but it was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry, receiving 33 applications for 21 places — a ratio of 1.57 applicants per place. All 21 first-preference families were offered a spot, which suggests that while demand is healthy, it is not prohibitively competitive. The school serves a Roman Catholic community but is open to all. Facilities include a chapel, forest school area, music rooms, art studios, and an ICT suite. Sports provision covers cross country, netball, rounders and gymnastics, and clubs range from film and book club to coding and gardening. SEND support is broad, covering dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional needs, speech and language challenges, visual impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families who value a strong reading foundation, a faith-based setting, and a wide range of enrichment activities, but who are comfortable with maths and writing results that sit closer to the LA average than the top of the table.

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