St. Paul's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

About St. Paul's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

St. Paul's Catholic Primary School in Tameside doesn't have published KS2 SATs results in the data, so we can't directly compare its headline academic metrics against the local authority average of 62. What we do know is that the school is oversubscribed: for its 26 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, it received 49 applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.88. All 25 first-preference applicants were offered a place, which suggests strong local demand. The school is one of 76 primary schools in Tameside, and only one of those holds an Outstanding Ofsted rating. St. Paul's itself was rated Good in its most recent graded inspection in 2017, and a subsequent ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed it remains Good. That's a clear improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2015, when it was rated Requires Improvement.

Academically, the picture is mixed. The school's most recent Ofsted report, from the 2017 graded inspection, rated overall effectiveness as Good, with leadership and management also Good. Early years provision was graded Good in that inspection, and the 2022 ungraded visit confirmed the school continues to meet the Good standard. However, the data doesn't include a Progress 8 score or KS2 attainment figures, so we can't compare against the Tameside primary average of 62. The school serves a community where 18.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, slightly above the national average, which may affect headline results. The Ofsted breakdown shows behaviour and attitudes were not separately graded, but the overall Good rating suggests a solid academic environment. Without exam data, parents should look to the school's own published results or ask directly about Year 6 SATs performance.

St. Paul's is a Roman Catholic voluntary academy with a nursery provision for children aged three and above, and it has a chapel on site. Facilities include a library, playing fields, art studios, an outdoor playground, and a sports hall. The school offers a range of sports including netball, athletics, swimming, cross country, rounders, and tennis, plus clubs like book club, art club, eco club, and science club. For SEND, the school supports eight categories including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 218 pupils against a capacity of 236, there is some spare capacity, but the oversubscription figures show it's a popular choice. This school would suit Catholic families in Tameside who value a faith-based primary with strong SEND support and a broad extracurricular offer, particularly in sports.

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