St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School

St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School has received a positive inspection overall, with good performance noted across all key areas including the quality of education, behaviour, personal development, leadership, and early years provision. The school emphasizes individual care and relationships, ensuring that pupils feel safe and valued. Their curriculum is well-planned, focusing effectively on reading and phonics, which has been prioritized by leadership. Although pupils achieve well academically, challenges remain in writing, which has not reached the same standard as reading and mathematics. The school is responsive to these challenges and is implementing changes to gradually improve writing outcomes.

Strengths

• Leaders and staff demonstrate strong care and understanding of individual pupil needs.
• Pupils exhibit good behaviour, moving calmly and demonstrating politeness around the school.
• Effective leadership of phonics and reading allows pupils to engage positively with literature.
• Teachers demonstrate good subject knowledge, positively impacting pupil learning.
• Pupils excel in extracurricular activities, fostering personal development.
• Support for pupils with SEND is coordinated well and ensures their academic progress.
• Parents appreciate staff commitment to supporting their children's needs.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' writing is not as strong as their reading and mathematics abilities.
• Some pupils do not take pride in their presentation of work, leading to untidy submissions.
• Governors lack rigorous questioning about school performance, limiting their oversight.

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 and St Benedict Catholic Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.0% 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, 0.6% of pupils at St Mary and St Benedict 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 and St Benedict Catholic Primary School had 19.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.0% 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, 13.6% of pupils at St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.3% 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 and St Benedict Catholic Primary School received £7,912 and spent £7,793 for each of its 331 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £189,000 (£573 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 Coventry · Coventry local authority: places and applications

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in March 2023.

When was St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School was last inspected in March 2023.

How many pupils does St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School have?

St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School has 345 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School cover?

St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School?

St Mary and St Benedict Catholic Primary School is at Leigh Street, Hillfields, Coventry, West Midlands, CV1 5HG.