St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School

St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School is currently rated as requires improvement, reflecting areas needing significant development in the quality of education offered to pupils. While the school has made strides in enhancing the curriculum, many initiatives are still in early stages and have not been fully implemented, resulting in students not achieving their potential in some subjects. Despite these challenges, the school has maintained a positive environment where pupils enjoy learning and interact respectfully with one another.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy attending the school and appreciate the caring relationships with staff.
• Children in early years settle quickly and are well-supported.
• Pupils have opportunities for responsibility, such as being well-being ambassadors.
• The phonics programme is delivered well with good support for struggling readers.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and their well-being is considered.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum changes are not fully implemented, impacting pupil achievement.
• Inconsistent delivery of curriculum across different subjects leads to gaps in knowledge.
• Lack of assessment systems in most subjects makes it difficult to monitor pupil learning.

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 Magdalen's Catholic Primary School attended 96.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 5.3% 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, 2.1% of pupils at St Mary Magdalen'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 Magdalen's Catholic Primary School had 19.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.6% 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, 10.3% of pupils at St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.3% 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 Magdalen's Catholic Primary School received £8,049 and spent £7,799 for each of its 175 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £57,000 (£325 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 Preston · Lancashire local authority: places and applications

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in June 2024.

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

St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in June 2024.

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

St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School has 175 pupils on roll.

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

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

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

In 2025, 65% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School?

St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School is at Buller Avenue, Penwortham, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 9QQ.