St Mary's Catholic Primary School

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary's Catholic Primary School sits within the Isle of Wight local authority, where it ranks 5th out of 35 primary schools, placing it comfortably in the top 15% of its peers. The three schools immediately ahead of it are Wootton Community Primary School, Gurnard Primary School, and Dover Park Primary School. As a Roman Catholic state primary for mixed pupils aged 2 to 11, the school is led by headteacher Margaret Sanderson and currently has 167 pupils on roll against a capacity of 210. The school has seen a notable improvement in its most recent Ofsted inspection, conducted in June 2025, where it was judged Good across all key areas. This marks a clear step up from its previous inspection in November 2022, when the school was rated Requires Improvement overall. The most striking gain is in personal development, which is now rated Outstanding, while leadership and management, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and early years provision have all moved from Requires Improvement to Good.

Academically, St Mary's performs well above the local average. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 67% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with the Isle of Wight average of 52%. The school's ranking score of 67 on this metric places it in the top 50 nationally for its school type. Looking at individual subjects, 73% of pupils met the expected standard in both reading and maths, with average scores of 104 in each. In writing, 77% reached the expected level, and 33% achieved a higher standard. Maths saw 17% of pupils reach the higher standard, while 27% did so in reading. The school's national percentile of 38th places it in the upper half of all primary schools in England, and within the South East region it ranks 722nd out of 2,034 schools. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is not possible to assess how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, with 22 applications for 18 places and 17 first-preference offers made. Facilities include a sports hall, gymnasium, playing fields, art studios, a chapel, and an outdoor playground. Clubs on offer include Eco Club, Gardening and Drama, while sports include athletics, football, gymnastics and rounders. The school provides nursery provision and has a broad range of SEND support, covering specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, social, emotional and mental health needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses, collected between September 2024 and September 2025, show strong satisfaction: 92% of the 38 respondents would recommend the school, and 100% agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy and feels safe. The school is best suited to families seeking a faith-based primary with strong academic outcomes relative to the local area, a clear upward trajectory in Ofsted judgements, and a supportive environment for children with additional needs.

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