St Mary's Catholic Primary School

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary's Catholic Primary School sits within the Brighton and Hove local authority, a mixed state primary for children aged 4 to 11. In the most recent local rankings of 40 primary schools, it placed 12th, placing it comfortably in the top third of its peers. The three highest-scoring schools in the area are Bilingual Primary School - Brighton & Hove, Hove Junior School, and Stanford Junior School, all of which outrank St Mary's on the same metric. The nearest outstanding-rated school is Hove Junior School, 1.6 kilometres away. St Mary's itself holds a Good rating from Ofsted, following its most recent graded inspection in 2014 and an ungraded inspection in 2023 that confirmed the school remains Good and is improving. That marks a clear upward trajectory from its previous inspection in 2012, when it was rated Requires Improvement. With 212 pupils on roll against a capacity of 218, the school is nearly full and serves a community where 29.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Academically, St Mary's performs above the local average at Key Stage 2. In the 2023/24 results, 66% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with the Brighton and Hove average of 59%. Reading is a particular strength: 93% of pupils met the expected standard and 62% achieved the higher standard, with an average scaled score of 110. Maths results were solid too, with 72% at the expected standard and an average score of 104, though only 24% reached the higher standard. Writing and reading, writing and maths combined saw just 7% at the higher level. Nationally, the school ranks 5,765th out of 13,686 primaries, placing it in the 42nd percentile. In the South East region it sits at 809th out of 2,034. The school has no sixth form and no nursery provision, so all pupils leave at age 11.

The school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 71 applications for 28 places, with 33 first-preference applications and 28 offers made to first-preference families, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.54. Facilities include a library, playing fields, a forest school, an outdoor playground, a sports hall and a chapel. Sports on offer are athletics, gymnastics, football and dance, while clubs include gardening, drama and choir. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a faith school with a Roman Catholic character, led by headteacher Sarah Clayton, and suits families who want a strong academic baseline, a clear improvement story from Ofsted, and a school that is popular enough to require a first-preference application for the best chance of a place.

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