St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ulverston

About St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ulverston

St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Ulverston stands out sharply against the local authority average for primary schools. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 93% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a Westmorland and Furness average of just 58%. That is a gap of 35 percentage points and places the school second out of 99 primaries in the LA, in the top 2% nationally. The school also excels at the higher standard: 21% of pupils achieved that level across all three subjects, while in reading alone 86% reached the higher benchmark. Reading and writing both saw 100% of pupils hitting the expected standard, and the average reading score was 111, well above the national norm. These are not marginal gains; they represent a consistently high performance across the board, particularly in literacy.

The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, in January 2020, rated it Good overall, with early years provision also judged Good. However, leadership and management was rated Requires Improvement, a notable point given the strong academic outcomes. The previous graded inspection in 2010 also gave an overall Good rating, so the school has held that standard for over a decade. The 2020 ungraded inspection confirmed the school remains Good. With 164 pupils on roll against a capacity of 120, the school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry there were 36 applications for 14 places, a ratio of 2.57 applicants per place, and all first-preference families received an offer. The school has a Roman Catholic character and a nursery provision for children from age two.

Facilities include a library, sensory room, ICT suite, art studios, forest school, gymnasium, music rooms and a chapel. Sports on offer range from swimming and netball to cricket and dance, while clubs include drama, science, chess, film and eco club. The school supports pupils with moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, social and emotional mental health needs, and other difficulties. With 6.1% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively low-deprivation intake. For families prioritising strong academic outcomes in a Catholic setting, St Mary's is a clear frontrunner in the area, though the leadership rating is something to keep an eye on. The nearest Outstanding-rated school, Sir John Barrow School, is just half a kilometre away.

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