St Paul's Catholic Primary School

About St Paul's Catholic Primary School

St Paul's Catholic Primary School sits well above the West Berkshire average for its key stage 2 outcomes. While the local authority average for pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined sits at 57 per cent, St Paul's hits 83 per cent — a gap of 26 percentage points. That performance places it 4th out of 57 primary schools in the area, comfortably inside the top 10 per cent locally and nationally. The school's Progress 8 scores aren't available in the data, but the raw attainment figures tell a clear story. In reading, 94 per cent of pupils met the expected standard and 48 per cent reached the higher standard. Maths saw 92 per cent at expected and 31 per cent at higher. Writing was similarly strong, with 92 per cent at expected. The average scaled scores — 109 in reading and 107 in maths — are both above the national benchmark of 100. For a school with just 4.4 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, these results reflect a cohort that is already performing strongly, but the consistency across all three subjects is what really stands out.

Ofsted last inspected the school in June 2023 and confirmed it remains Good, a rating it has held since at least its previous graded inspection in 2012. The leadership and management were also judged Good, and the early years provision was rated as Satisfactory (grade 2) back in 2008 — though that data point is now quite old. The school's most recent ungraded inspection found no change to the overall effectiveness. With 294 pupils on roll against a capacity of 327, there is some headroom, but the school is clearly popular: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 65 applications for 30 places, an oversubscription ratio of 2.17. Of those, 29 were first-preference offers, meaning virtually all first-preference applicants got in. The school is a Roman Catholic state primary for mixed genders aged 4 to 11, with no nursery or sixth form provision.

Facilities include a dining hall, music rooms, a sensory room, gymnasium and chapel. The sports programme covers rounders, cross country, tennis, dance, netball, athletics and swimming, and there are clubs for drama, eco club and choir. The school's SEND register covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. For families prioritising strong academic outcomes within a faith-based setting, St Paul's delivers results that comfortably exceed the local average. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Birch Copse Primary School, just half a kilometre away, so there is a high-performing alternative nearby for those who might prefer a non-denominational option. But for Catholic families or those drawn to the school's clear academic track record, St Paul's is a strong contender in West Berkshire.

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