St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

About St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy, sits within the North Yorkshire local authority, where it is one of just 16 primary schools out of 292 to hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. That puts it in a small, high-performing group within the county. Among its closest peers in the area, the school shares top billing with Eppleby Forcett Church of England Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, both of which also achieve the highest possible ranking score. Middleton Tyas Church of England Primary School follows closely behind with a score of 95. The school is a Roman Catholic voluntary academy for mixed pupils aged 3 to 11, with a nursery provision on site. Headteacher Jill Allen leads a school that is significantly oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 67 applications for just 20 places, and 18 of those went to first-preference families. The oversubscription ratio of 3.35 to one reflects strong local demand.

Academically, the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in June 2025, confirmed that it continues to maintain the Outstanding standards it first achieved in a graded inspection back in 2018. The leadership and management were also judged Outstanding, while early years provision was rated Good. This marks a notable turnaround from the school’s previous graded inspection in 2016, when overall effectiveness was judged as Requires Improvement. The parent view survey, collected between September 2024 and September 2025, shows very high levels of satisfaction: 93 per cent of the 42 respondents would recommend the school to other parents. Strong majorities agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy at the school (93 per cent) and feels safe (98 per cent). On academic expectations, 88 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the school has high expectations for their child, and 91 per cent felt their child does well there. The school’s performance at Key Stage 2 sits above the North Yorkshire local authority average of 60, though exact results are not published in this data.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a library, outdoor playground, forest school, playing fields, art studios, sports hall, ICT suite, music rooms and a chapel. Sports on offer include football, netball, dance, cross country and gymnastics, while clubs extend to science, gardening, coding, film, chess and book club. For children with additional needs, the school lists SEND provisions covering specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. The parent view data indicates that 91 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the school gives SEND children the support they need. With a total of 152 pupils on roll against a capacity of 140, the school is operating above its official capacity, and 8.4 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals. This is a Catholic primary that clearly commands strong local loyalty, and families considering it should be prepared for a competitive admissions process.

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