Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is a welcoming, diverse primary serving a community with well-above-average levels of disadvantage. Inspectors found that pupils are happy, behave impressively well and attend exceptionally well, with attendance well above national averages for all groups. The school has a calm, respectful ethos, strong relationships with families, and effective inclusion: pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils are well supported and typically achieve well, with disadvantaged pupils matching non-disadvantaged peers nationally by the end of key stage 2. Early years provision is well organised, especially for spoken language and vocabulary, and there is a broad personal development offer. Most areas of the school's work are at the expected standard, with attendance and behaviour standing out as particularly strong. The main areas for improvement are the consistency of curriculum and teaching across all subjects and year groups, and the quality of pupils' work in some wider curriculum areas. Writing is a particular focus: early writing is less developed in the early years, some children are not fully ready for Year 1, and handwriting is not always age-expected. Safeguarding is met, but leaders' safeguarding records do not always clearly show the actions taken to promote pupils' welfare, which weakens oversight. Since the last inspection, the school has introduced a new senior leadership structure, with an executive headteacher and head of school.

Strengths

• Attendance is significantly above national averages for all pupil groups, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Leaders build strong relationships with families and provide tailored support to overcome attendance barriers.
• Pupils behave impressively well and enjoy a calm, respectful and nurturing school environment.
• Pupils have very positive relationships with staff and peers and respect each other's differences.
• Bullying and discrimination are not tolerated, and pupils are confident staff would deal with incidents swiftly.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve particularly well and reach standards in line with non-disadvantaged peers nationally by the end of key stage 2.
• Pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well from low starting points across reading, writing and mathematics.
• The curriculum is well ordered and generally taught well, especially in reading and mathematics.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge, check pupils' understanding effectively and revisit prior learning.
• Teachers make clear, impactful adaptations for pupils with SEND so they access the curriculum alongside peers.
• Early years provision is well designed, with high-quality staff interactions and a strong focus on vocabulary and oracy.
• Pupils of all backgrounds, beliefs and disabilities are welcomed and included; additional needs are identified quickly.
• Leaders use extra funding effectively to support disadvantaged pupils and work closely with outside agencies.
• Staff wellbeing is well supported, workload is reduced, and professional development is linked to school priorities.
• The personal development programme builds pupils' understanding of British values, diversity, online safety and relationships.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of trips, clubs and leadership roles, with SEND and disadvantaged pupils fully included.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture and concerns actively identified and managed.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of work pupils produce in some wider curriculum areas is not as high as it could be.
• Teaching and activities in some subjects and year groups do not consistently enable pupils to learn important knowledge and skills.
• Curriculum and teaching quality is not yet consistently high across all subjects and year groups.
• Pupils' handwriting is not at age-expected levels in some parts of the school.
• Early years writing is less developed than other areas, so some children are not fully prepared for Year 1.
• Improvements to early writing are too recent for their full impact to be seen.
• Safeguarding records do not always clearly record the actions taken to promote pupils' welfare, reducing leaders' assurance, though pupils are not left at risk.
• Writing skills still need further development to ensure pupils consistently meet age-related expectations.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Holy Family Catholic Primary School attended 97.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Holy Family Catholic Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Holy Family Catholic Primary School had 21.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 18.3% of pupils at Holy Family Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Holy Family Catholic Primary School received £8,166 and spent £8,077 for each of its 229 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £67,000 (£294 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Holy Family Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holy Family Catholic Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Holy Family Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Holy Family Catholic Primary School have?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School has 241 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holy Family Catholic Primary School cover?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Holy Family Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 69% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Holy Family Catholic Primary School?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is at Parliament Road, Armley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS12 2LH.