St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

About St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy, was rated Good in its most recent graded Ofsted inspection, a significant improvement from its previous rating of Requires Improvement in 2012. The school has held onto this Good rating, as confirmed by an ungraded inspection in 2024 which found that the school remains Good. For parents focused on academic outcomes, the most telling metric is the school's Key Stage 2 performance. While the school's own SATs results are not published in this data, the local authority average for primary schools in Tameside is 62 percent of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. This places St. Mary's in a competitive context where only one of 76 primary schools in the borough has achieved an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, that being Millbrook Primary School, located 4.6 kilometres away.

The school's leadership and management were also rated Good in the 2014 graded inspection, and the 2024 ungraded visit confirmed no decline in standards. With 212 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210, the school is effectively full, and its admissions data for the 2025/26 intake tells a clear story of popularity: 80 applications for 28 places, with 39 of those as first preferences, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.86. This level of demand suggests strong local confidence in the school's provision. The school serves a community with 25.5 percent of pupils eligible for free school meals, which is above the national average, indicating a diverse intake. The headteacher, Damian Arthur, leads a Roman Catholic primary that caters for children aged 4 to 11, with no nursery or sixth form provision.

Facilities include a library, playing fields, gymnasium, sports hall, ICT suite, outdoor playground, and a chapel, supporting a broad curriculum. Sports offered are football, cricket, swimming, cross country, and rounders, while clubs range from book club and science club to gardening, coding, eco club, and chess. The school has a well-documented SEND offer, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulties. This makes it a viable option for families whose children require additional support within a mainstream setting. Given its oversubscription, parents should be prepared to apply early and list it as a first preference. The school suits families who value a Catholic ethos, a Good-rated school with improving trajectory, and a wide range of extracurricular activities.

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