St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Morecambe

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Morecambe

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Morecambe, was rated Requires Improvement overall in its most recent Ofsted inspection in July 2024, a drop from its previous Good rating in 2014. The inspection report paints a mixed picture: while leadership and management, and the quality of education, both require improvement, the school continues to do well in other areas. Early years provision, personal development, and behaviour and attitudes were all judged Good. This suggests that while the school has clear areas to work on, the day-to-day experience for children is still positive in key respects. The most telling academic metric is the Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard, where just 48% of pupils met the benchmark in 2023/24. That is notably below the Lancashire local authority average of 60%, placing the school in the bottom half of primary schools in the Lancaster area.

Looking at the individual subject scores, the picture is more nuanced. In reading, 74% of pupils reached the expected standard, with an average scaled score of 103, which is solid. Writing followed at 65%, and maths at 57%, with an average maths score of 101. The higher standard attainment is low across the board, with 17% reaching it in reading, 9% in writing, and none in maths or the combined measure. In the Lancaster local authority, St Mary's ranks 35th out of 46 primary schools on the combined expected standard metric, placing it in the bottom 50% nationally. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is difficult to measure how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points, but the raw outcomes suggest that while reading is a relative strength, maths and writing are areas where the school is working to improve.

St Mary's is a small Roman Catholic primary school with 164 pupils on roll, well below its capacity of 210. It is oversubscribed for 2025/26, with 30 applications for just 12 places, and all 12 first-preference applicants were offered a place. The school serves a community with above-average disadvantage, as 37.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Facilities include an ICT suite, sports hall, gymnasium, sensory room, and a chapel, and the school offers a range of clubs from coding and eco club to drama and gardening. Its SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families who value a faith-based, community-focused primary with strong pastoral care and a Good-rated early years setting, but who are realistic about the current academic challenges and the school's ongoing improvement journey.

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