St Mary's Catholic Primary School

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary's Catholic Primary School sits within the Rotherham local authority, where it ranks 11th out of 84 primary schools based on the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. That places it comfortably in the top 25 per cent of schools locally. The three highest-ranked peers in the borough are St Alban's CofE (Aided) Primary School, Whiston Worrygoose Junior and Infant School, and Roughwood Primary School, all of which score above St Mary's on the same metric. The school is a state-funded Roman Catholic primary for mixed pupils aged 5 to 11, led by headteacher Anna Osborne. It is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, 24 first-preference applications were received for 24 places, with 45 total applications competing for those spots, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.88. That level of demand suggests strong local reputation, particularly among Catholic families in Rotherham.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in April 2023, St Mary's was rated Good overall and Good across every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This continues a pattern of Good ratings, as the school also received Good in its previous inspection in 2012. At Key Stage 2, 77 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, well above the Rotherham local authority average of 60 per cent. Only 3 per cent reached the higher standard in all three subjects, though individual subject scores were stronger: 84 per cent achieved the expected standard in reading and in maths, and 81 per cent in writing. Average scaled scores were 105 in reading and 106 in maths. Nationally, St Mary's ranks in the top 16 per cent of all primary schools for the same metric, and in Yorkshire and the Humber it sits in the top 14 per cent.

The school site includes a chapel, a sensory room, an ICT suite, a sports hall, art studios, a dining hall and playing fields. Sports on offer include football, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, cricket, athletics and rounders, while clubs range from choir and drama to science club, art club, book club and chess. The school supports pupils with a range of special educational needs, including specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication needs, social, emotional and mental health needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 19 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a reasonably diverse intake. For families seeking a Catholic primary with strong academic outcomes relative to the local average, St Mary's is a solid choice, though those looking for an Outstanding-rated school should note that the nearest such school, Herringthorpe Junior School, is less than a kilometre away.

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