St Begh's Catholic Junior School

St Begh's Catholic Junior School continues to perform well as a good school, providing a nurturing environment that fosters pride and ensures pupils feel safe and secure. The school has a well-designed curriculum with high expectations from staff, which supports pupils, including those with special educational needs, to achieve consistently well. There are strong initiatives for mental and physical well-being, and the pupils enjoy a range of learning opportunities including community engagement and exposure to different careers. However, the school faces challenges with the consistent delivery of phonics instruction and a limited range of extracurricular activities.

Strengths

• The school provides a nurturing and safe environment for pupils.
• Staff have high expectations and effectively support pupil learning.
• The curriculum is ambitious and well-designed to build on prior knowledge.
• Effective processes are in place to support pupils with special educational needs.
• Pupils show a high level of understanding in reading and vocabulary development.
• The school engages well with parents to share children's progress.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent approach to teaching phonics for early readers.
• Limited range of extra-curricular and enrichment activities.

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 Begh's Catholic Junior School attended 93.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.1% 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, 0.4% of pupils at St Begh's Catholic Junior 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 Begh's Catholic Junior School had 19.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.3% 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, 3.8% of pupils at St Begh's Catholic Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% 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 Begh's Catholic Junior School received £7,482 and spent £7,376 for each of its 240 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £60,000 (£251 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 Begh's Catholic Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Begh's Catholic Junior School is Good, from an inspection in October 2023.

When was St Begh's Catholic Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Begh's Catholic Junior School was last inspected in October 2023.

How many pupils does St Begh's Catholic Junior School have?

St Begh's Catholic Junior School has 240 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Begh's Catholic Junior School cover?

St Begh's Catholic Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are St Begh's Catholic Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Begh's Catholic Junior School?

St Begh's Catholic Junior School is at Coach Road, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 7TE.