St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a strong school in Kells, Whitehaven, and part of the Diocese of Lancaster. This was its first routine section 5 inspection since 2014 and the first since the COVID-19 pandemic; under current arrangements, no overall effectiveness grade is awarded. Inspectors found behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision to be outstanding, while quality of education and leadership and management were good. Pupils love attending the school, behave excellently and benefit from an ambitious curriculum and exceptional early years provision.

Strengths

• Pupils are exceptionally happy, respectful and well behaved.
• Early years provision is exceptional and children make rapid gains.
• Reading is central to the school and pupils who struggle are supported to catch up quickly.
• The curriculum is ambitious and delivered consistently in most subjects.
• Pupils develop confident language and communication skills.
• Pupils with SEND are identified and supported effectively to achieve well.
• Attendance is high and persistent absence is low.
• Pupils benefit from an impressive range of trips, clubs and enterprise projects.
• Pupils are exceptionally well prepared for life beyond school and contribute as active citizens.
• Governance is effective and leaders support staff well-being and workload.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In a small number of recently revised subjects, key knowledge is not yet clearly defined at each stage.
• Work in those subjects does not consistently help pupils deepen their understanding over time.

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 St Mary's Catholic Primary School attended 95.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.5% 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 St Mary's 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 St Mary's Catholic Primary School had 20.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.7% 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, 14.9% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.6% 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 St Mary's Catholic Primary School received £7,334 and spent £7,316 for each of its 189 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £84,000 (£447 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 Whitehaven · Cumberland local authority: places and applications

What is St Mary's Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary's Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was St Mary's Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mary's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does St Mary's Catholic Primary School have?

St Mary's Catholic Primary School has 195 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mary's Catholic Primary School cover?

St Mary's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Mary's Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 76% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mary's Catholic Primary School?

St Mary's Catholic Primary School is at High Road, Kells, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 9PG.