St William's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

About St William's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

St William's Catholic Primary School in Bradford holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained consistently across its two most recent inspections, including the most recent one in 2023. The school’s academic story is best told through its Key Stage 2 results, where 44% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That figure sits below the local authority average of 59%, and places the school 128th out of 153 primary schools in Bradford. In the national rankings, it falls in the bottom half of all primary schools. Digging into the individual subjects, 69% of pupils reached the expected standard in writing, which is the strongest of the three core subjects, while reading and maths both sat at 56%. At the higher standard, just 6% of pupils achieved in both reading, writing and maths, though 19% reached that level in reading alone.

The Ofsted inspection report from October 2023 awarded Good marks across every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. The previous inspection in 2019 had also rated the school Good across the board, so there is a clear pattern of steady, solid performance. The school’s Progress 8 scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, so it is difficult to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. However, the average scaled scores — 101 in reading and 100 in maths — are close to the national benchmark of 100. With 40.8% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a significantly disadvantaged community, which provides important context for its results.

St William’s is a small school, with 125 pupils against a capacity of 210, and it is oversubscribed: for 13 places in the 2025/26 intake, it received 37 applications, a ratio of nearly three to one. The school offers a range of facilities including a library, playing fields, a forest school, a sensory room and a chapel. Sports provision covers athletics, football, rounders, cricket, cross country and gymnastics, while clubs include drama, gardening, choir, eco club and book club. The school has identified SEND provisions for moderate learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and other difficulties. For Catholic families in Bradford looking for a faith-based primary with a strong pastoral framework and a clear set of extracurricular opportunities, St William’s is a popular local choice, though its academic outcomes are below the LA average.

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