Christ The King Catholic Primary School

Christ The King Catholic Primary School is a larger-than-average Catholic primary in Reading with a nursery and a resourced provision for up to 18 pupils with autism spectrum disorder. The school serves a disadvantaged community, with high proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils with SEND. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils are happy, feel safe and benefit from warm relationships. However, the inspection found that all graded areas - achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing - need attention, meaning expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements. The context includes significant leadership changes, an interim headteacher, and staffing turbulence and absence that have slowed improvement. The school has notable strengths. Pupils are typically polite, respectful and eager to learn, and staff deal with bullying well. The specialist resource provision is a strength, offering tailored support and a nurturing environment. Children get off to a flying start in Nursery, and leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. Leaders prioritise attendance and work closely with families, and they support pupils' emotional regulation well. Governors are committed, and pupils benefit from pastoral support, online-safety education and enrichment opportunities. However, there are important concerns. Not all pupils achieve well enough, especially by the end of Reception, and phonics outcomes remain below national average. Teaching is too variable, misconceptions and gaps are not addressed consistently, and some pupils with SEND do not receive the support they need. Attendance remains stubbornly low, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and behaviour expectations are not applied consistently. The disadvantaged pupil strategy lacks clarity and monitoring, PSHE implementation is uneven, and leadership improvement has been hampered by staff turnover and absence. The next steps focus on consistent teaching, foundational skills, early years, behaviour, attendance, pupil premium strategy and personal development.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and know staff listen to their worries.
• Relationships are warm and pupils build strong friendships.
• Bullying is dealt with well when it happens.
• Pupils are typically polite, respectful and eager to learn.
• Staff support pupils who need help managing emotions very well.
• The specialist resource provision is a strength, with tailored support and a nurturing environment.
• Children get off to a flying start in Nursery.
• Nursery staff plan purposeful activities and use high-quality interactions to build vocabulary.
• Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum.
• Leaders prioritise attendance and work closely with families using robust systems and inventive strategies.
• Leaders identify pupils with SEND swiftly and have high expectations for them.
• Leaders make effective use of alternative provision with secure oversight.
• Leaders support children known to social care very well and work tenaciously with external agencies.
• Governors are deeply committed and provide increasingly effective support and challenge.
• Pastoral support meets pupils' needs well, including sensory support.
• Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe online well.
• Pupils learn about healthy relationships and consent age-appropriately.
• Pupils benefit from enrichment activities and leadership responsibilities.
• Staff work well with parents and carers in early years.
• Leaders are making good use of local authority advice during staffing turbulence.

Areas for Improvement

• Not all pupils achieve well enough, especially children at the end of Reception.
• Phonics screening outcomes remain below the national average.
• Gaps in reading, writing and mathematics are not identified and closed quickly enough.
• Some staff do not focus well enough on securing basic skills and knowledge.
• Pupils with SEND do not all achieve well from their starting points.
• Too many pupils do not attend school often enough.
• Disadvantaged pupils continue to miss school too regularly.
• Attendance is not improving quickly enough despite leaders' efforts.
• Behaviour policy is not applied consistently by all staff.
• Staff do not always re-engage off-task pupils quickly, losing learning time.
• Teaching does not routinely identify misconceptions, gaps and errors.
• Handwriting and spelling errors persist over time.
• Curriculum is not consistently taught as intended, including phonics.
• Teaching variability means uneven learning for pupils with SEND.
• Key Stage 1 pupils spend less than the recommended 32.5 hours a week in school.
• Early years practice is inconsistent and children are not well prepared for Year 1.
• Some early years teaching is not planned closely enough on what children must learn next.
• Too many Reception children do not master correct letter formation.
• Early years staff expertise varies and further training is needed.
• Disadvantaged pupil strategy lacks clarity and is not monitored well enough.
• SEND expectations are not realised for some pupils and support is inconsistent.
• Improvement pace is inconsistent due to recurring staff changes and absence.
• Staff have mixed views about support for well-being and workload.
• Parents have mixed views and concerns about leadership and staff turnover.
• Professional development is not yet part of a sustained long-term strategy.
• Governors' oversight of the disadvantaged pupil strategy is not sufficiently robust.
• PSHE implementation is variable and British values understanding is underdeveloped.
• Mainstream pupils with SEND receive a more variable PSHE programme.
• Competitive sport opportunities have declined due to staffing changes.

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 Christ The King Catholic Primary School attended 93.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.7% 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, 2.2% of pupils at Christ The King 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 Christ The King Catholic Primary School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 22.5% 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, 29.2% of pupils at Christ The King Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 12.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 1 pupil.

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 Christ The King Catholic Primary School received £9,984 and spent £10,630 for each of its 289 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £88,000 (-£305 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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• Secondary Schools

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What is Christ The King Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Christ The King Catholic Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Christ The King Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Christ The King Catholic Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Christ The King Catholic Primary School have?

Christ The King Catholic Primary School has 298 pupils on roll.

What age range does Christ The King Catholic Primary School cover?

Christ The King Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Christ The King Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Christ The King Catholic Primary School?

Christ The King Catholic Primary School is at Lulworth Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 8LX.