St Anselm's Catholic Primary School

St Anselm’s Catholic Primary School is performing well overall. Inspectors found pupils are proud of their friendly, vibrant school, behave exceptionally well and show impressive personal development. They feel safe, are cared for by trusting staff, and benefit from a broad, ambitious curriculum with strong reading and phonics, effective early years provision and a wide range of leadership opportunities. Leaders have a secure understanding of the school and community, safeguarding is effective, and staff speak positively about work-life balance and community. Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and the Nurture provision supports those with complex needs well, although support strategies are not consistently applied in mainstream lessons. The main areas to improve are ensuring all teachers design learning that helps pupils make deeper connections between linked ideas and use assessment consistently to identify and address misconceptions. The school also needs to build staff skills so pupils with complex SEND can access learning successfully. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is a Catholic primary school within the Archdiocese of Southwark; under the current graded inspection arrangements, no overall effectiveness grade was given.

Strengths

• Pupils are caring, kind and resilient, and feel safe because adults help them with worries.
• Pupils behave exceptionally well and show impeccable manners.
• Pupils benefit from a rich, broad and ambitious curriculum.
• Reading and phonics are taught effectively from Reception, with timely support for those who need it.
• Pupils with SEND are identified quickly, and the Nurture provision supports complex needs well.
• Personal development is impressive, including British values, debate and leadership opportunities.
• Early years staff help children settle, concentrate and become curious, resilient learners.
• Staff are positive about work-life balance and the school community.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Leaders have a secure understanding of pupils and the community and provide a sequential curriculum.

Areas for Improvement

• Some lesson activities do not help pupils make deeper connections between linked ideas.
• Assessment in some subjects does not consistently identify and address misconceptions.
• Pupils with complex SEND do not always have support strategies consistently applied in mainstream lessons.
• Staff may need further training to design learning that enables pupils with complex SEND to access the curriculum successfully.

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 Anselm's Catholic Primary School attended 96.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.8% 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, 0.9% of pupils at St Anselm's Catholic Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Anselm's Catholic Primary School had 21.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 5.9% 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, 10.0% of pupils at St Anselm's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 0.9% 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 Anselm's Catholic Primary School received £6,439 and spent £6,336 for each of its 211 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £136,000 (£645 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 Dartford · Kent local authority: places and applications

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

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

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

St Anselm's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in March 2025.

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

St Anselm's Catholic Primary School has 211 pupils on roll.

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

St Anselm's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

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

In 2025, 79% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Anselm's Catholic Primary School?

St Anselm's Catholic Primary School is at Littlebrook Manor Way, Temple Hill, Dartford, Kent, DA1 5EA.