Holy Cross RC Primary School

Holy Cross RC Primary School is performing well overall, maintaining a good standard of education across various domains such as behaviour, personal development, and leadership. The school fosters a supportive and inclusive environment where pupils are proud to attend and engage positively with their peers and staff. Parents appreciate the school's community role and the care that teachers provide to students, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has set high expectations for all its pupils and follows an ambitious curriculum that emphasizes the importance of reading and mathematics.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning.
• There is a strong focus on reading, with effective phonics instruction.
• The school has a well-structured mathematics curriculum.
• Leaders have high expectations for all pupils, including those with SEND.
• Pupils enjoy a wide range of extracurricular activities.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school.

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment practices in some subjects are not used effectively to check pupils' knowledge retention.

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 Cross RC Primary School attended 93.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 22.0% 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, 1.7% of pupils at Holy Cross RC 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 Cross RC Primary School had 37.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.9% 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, 21.8% of pupils at Holy Cross RC Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.1% 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 Cross RC Primary School received £9,046 and spent £9,133 for each of its 170 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £191,000 (£1,122 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Bristol · Bristol, City of local authority: places and applications

What is Holy Cross RC Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holy Cross RC Primary School is Good, from an inspection in July 2023.

When was Holy Cross RC Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Holy Cross RC Primary School was last inspected in July 2023.

How many pupils does Holy Cross RC Primary School have?

Holy Cross RC Primary School has 170 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holy Cross RC Primary School cover?

Holy Cross RC Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Holy Cross RC Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Holy Cross RC Primary School?

Holy Cross RC Primary School is at Dean Lane, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1DB.