St Mary's Catholic Primary School

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Redcar and Cleveland is a school that parents clearly want to get into. For the 2025/26 intake, it received 31 applications for just 22 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.41. Of those 31 applications, 19 were first-preference choices, and the school offered places to all 19 of those first-preference families. That level of demand suggests a strong local reputation, and it's worth noting that the school is one of only four primary schools in the local authority to hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. The most recent graded inspection, in November 2023, awarded top marks across every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. That's a clean sweep of Outstanding grades, which is rare and will no doubt be a major factor in the school's popularity.

Academically, the picture is more mixed. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 47% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That is well below the local authority average of 65% and places the school 37th out of 41 primaries in Redcar and Cleveland. However, looking at individual subjects tells a slightly different story. In maths, 70% of pupils reached the expected standard, with an average scaled score of 102, and 13% achieved the higher standard. Reading saw 57% at the expected level and 20% at the higher level, with an average score of 103. Writing was the weakest area, with 63% at the expected level and just 10% at the higher level. The school's ranking nationally places it in the bottom half of all primary schools on the combined measure, so while the Ofsted rating is stellar, the raw exam results suggest there is room for improvement in core academic outcomes.

The school offers a wide range of facilities and activities that go beyond the classroom. There is a sensory room, a forest school area, a chapel, music rooms, art studios, an ICT suite and a library. Sports provision includes football, cricket, tennis, swimming and netball, and there are clubs for drama, coding, art, film, choir and a book club. For children with additional needs, the school lists provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language difficulties, physical disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. With a nursery on site and a capacity of 210 pupils currently filled by 216, the school is operating slightly above its official capacity. Given the high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 61.9%, this is a school serving a community with significant socioeconomic need, and its Outstanding Ofsted rating suggests it is doing so effectively, even if the headline exam results don't yet reflect that.

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