St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy

St Patrick’s Catholic Voluntary Academy is a standalone academy trust primary school that has experienced significant staffing turbulence and fragile governance. Inspectors found serious weaknesses in leadership capacity, curriculum delivery, behaviour, SEND provision and early years, and the school has been judged to require special measures. The headteacher is also the trust CEO, and trustees are also the school’s governors, which is important context for the leadership concerns identified. Pupils’ experience has been negatively affected. Although many pupils enjoy school and attend well, behaviour is inconsistent, bullying is a concern for some pupils, and staff do not feel supported to apply the behaviour policy. Pupils with SEND are not identified or supported well enough, and children in the early years do not all receive equal access to the curriculum. Safeguarding arrangements are effective overall, but some recording weaknesses remain. There are some positives. The curriculum is coherently designed in most subjects, reading has been made a priority, and pupils learn about safety and different faiths through PSHE. However, delivery and assessment are inconsistent, pupils’ recall is variable, and wider opportunities are limited. The report says the school must act swiftly to strengthen leadership at all levels and bring about rapid, sustainable improvement.

Strengths

• The curriculums for most subjects are coherently designed and sequenced over time.
• Learning to read is a priority, with staff trained in phonics and reading books matched to pupils’ sounds.
• Some lessons are calm and orderly, and many pupils enjoy school.
• Pupils attend well.
• Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and about a range of faiths through PSHE.
• Some pupils take on leadership responsibilities, such as prayer warrior or school council member.
• In some subjects, such as mathematics, teachers check learning well and adapt teaching to address gaps.
• The school is working to broaden the range of extra-curricular clubs and uses educational visits to enhance learning.
• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff acknowledge that managing their workload has improved this academic year.

Areas for Improvement

• Leadership capacity is weak following high staff turnover and fragile governance.
• Governance has not acted swiftly enough to stabilise the school, strengthen leadership or build capacity.
• The school does not have high enough expectations of pupils’ achievement, particularly for pupils with SEND.
• Pupils with SEND are not identified well enough and most do not have up-to-date support plans.
• Staff do not understand pupils’ SEND needs or how to support them, so many pupils struggle to access learning.
• Curriculum delivery is weak in some year groups and subjects, and teachers do not consistently choose appropriate tasks and resources.
• The school does not make regular checks on whether staff are teaching the curriculum as intended.
• Phonics lessons are often disrupted by poor behaviour, and support for pupils who find reading difficult is not put in place quickly enough.
• Not all children in the early years have equal access to the curriculum, with some Reception-age children spending time in Year 1.
• Assessment strategies are less effective in some subjects, and pupils’ recall of learning is variable.
• The behaviour policy is not implemented consistently, and staff do not feel supported to manage challenging behaviour.
• Behaviour incident reporting and recording systems are not sufficiently robust, causing worry among parents.
• Pupils do not consistently demonstrate respect and tolerance in their actions or words.
• Extra-curricular opportunities are limited.
• Safeguarding records are not consistently logged in a timely manner and do not always show what action was taken.
• Staff morale is low.
• HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers.

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 Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy attended 95.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.2% 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, 3.7% of pupils at St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy 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 Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy had 28.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.9% 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, 14.0% of pupils at St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.4% 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 2022–23 St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy received £6,127 and spent £6,016 for each of its 308 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £255,000 (£828 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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What is St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy is Inadequate, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy have?

St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy has 285 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy cover?

St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 8% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy?

St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy is at Barnsley Road, Sheffield Lane Top, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S5 0QF.