St John's Catholic Primary School

St John’s Catholic Primary School is a highly effective school where pupils’ learning sits at the heart of everything it does. Inspectors found an ambitious, well-designed curriculum delivered consistently and rigorously, with excellent language and vocabulary development and particularly strong mathematics teaching. Pupils are happy, safe and behave exceptionally well, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included and excellently supported. Early years provision is strong, reading and phonics are taught well, and personal development is exceptional, with a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities. The school has tackled the phonics improvement identified at its previous ungraded inspection, and staff now teach phonics consistently; pupils read accurately, fluently and confidently. Attendance is mostly excellent, and the school works hard to support the small minority of persistently absent pupils. Leadership, governance and staff development are strong, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Since September 2024, the school has not received an overall effectiveness grade, but inspectors identified no significant weaknesses in the report.

Strengths

• Ambitious, well-designed curriculum implemented consistently and rigorously
• Strong focus on language and vocabulary across the curriculum
• Particularly effective mathematics teaching with careful assessment and consolidation
• Pupils are happy, safe and behave exceptionally well
• Pupils with SEND are fully included and excellently supported
• Exceptional personal development with rich cultural visits, clubs and pupil leadership
• Early years provision immerses children in stories, songs, rhymes and strong phonics and mathematics
• Phonics has been rigorously improved; pupils read accurately, fluently and confidently
• Strong leadership and governance with precise improvement planning and staff support
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Excellent attendance for most pupils and determined support for persistent absentees

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 John's Catholic Primary School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.8% 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, 0.0% of pupils at St John'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 John's Catholic Primary School had 20.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.8% 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, 17.6% of pupils at St John'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 John's Catholic Primary School received £7,059 and spent £6,669 for each of its 471 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £245,000 (£521 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 Liverpool · Liverpool local authority: places and applications

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St John's Catholic Primary School is Outstanding, from an inspection in January 2025.

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

St John's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in January 2025.

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

St John's Catholic Primary School has 524 pupils on roll.

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

St John's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

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

In 2025, 67% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St John's Catholic Primary School?

St John's Catholic Primary School is at Fountains Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool, Merseyside, L4 1UN.