St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

About St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

St Teresa's Catholic Primary School sits in the bottom half of Blackpool's primary schools, ranked 19th out of 30 in the local authority, with a ranking score of 48 based on the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. That 48% figure is notably below the Blackpool LA average of 58%, placing the school in the bottom 50 nationally for this key metric. The gap is significant: roughly one in ten fewer children here meet the combined benchmark compared with the typical primary across the borough. On the other hand, the school's Ofsted rating is Good, and its most recent ungraded inspection in April 2025 confirmed that standards are being maintained. That's a clear improvement from its previous graded inspection back in 2012, when it was judged to require improvement. So while the headline attainment numbers lag behind the local average, the school has demonstrably turned a corner in leadership and management, both of which are now rated Good.

Looking more closely at the 2023/24 KS2 results, the picture is mixed. In reading, 70% of pupils reached the expected standard and the average scaled score was 103, while in maths the expected standard figure was also 70% with an average score of 104. Writing lagged slightly at 67% expected. At the higher standard, the numbers drop sharply: 30% in maths, 12% in reading and just 6% in writing. No pupils achieved the higher standard across all three subjects. The school's overall ranking in the North West region places it in the bottom 20% of primaries, and nationally it sits around the 82nd percentile from the bottom. For context, the top-performing primary in Blackpool, Kincraig Primary School, scores 96 on the same metric. St Teresa's is clearly not an academic powerhouse, but it's worth noting that 26.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is above the national average and may partly explain the attainment gap.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 26 places in the 2025/26 intake, there were 41 applications, all 26 first-preference offers were taken up, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.58. That suggests strong local demand despite the middling results. Facilities include a Forest School, library, chapel, playing fields and an outdoor playground, and there's a decent range of sports and clubs on offer, from football and netball to drama, gardening and choir. The nursery provision means children can start at age three. SEND support covers six areas including dyslexia, speech and language needs, and autistic spectrum disorder, though the Parent View responses are telling: only 42% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that SEND children get the support they need, while 50% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Overall, 68% of parents would recommend the school, and 86% say their child is happy. This is a faith-based community school that families clearly want to get into, but the data suggests it's one where academic outcomes are a concern and SEND provision divides opinion.

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