St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead, was inspected in May 2025 and is judged good in all key areas and early years provision; it was previously requires improvement. The school is part of Mother Teresa Catholic Academy Trust and has seen significant staff turnover since the last inspection, with the headteacher in post since January 2022. Pupils are proud of their happy, nurturing school, behave well, feel safe and benefit from respectful relationships and a wide range of wider opportunities. Personal development is well considered, reading is a top priority, pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported effectively, attendance systems are robust, and safeguarding is effective. Leaders, governors and trustees have high standards and accurate oversight, staff value training and workload consideration, and parents are highly positive. The main concern is the curriculum: English and mathematics are well sequenced, but some foundation subjects are at an earlier stage of implementation, with key content and assessment not as refined. As a result, pupils’ learning does not consistently build on prior knowledge and they do not achieve as well as they could in those subjects. The school also needs to strengthen its evaluation of curriculum impact so oversight is equally effective across all subjects.

Strengths

• Happy, nurturing school where pupils feel safe and supported
• Respectful staff-pupil relationships and kind, polite pupils
• Good behaviour in classrooms and around the school
• Ambitious and coherent curriculum, especially in English and mathematics
• Quick, accurate identification of SEND with effective targeted support
• Strong focus on early reading and well-structured phonics
• Robust attendance systems that are making a positive difference
• Well-considered personal development and wide wider opportunities
• Children flourish in early years through warm, caring relationships
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Positive staff morale and strong trust and governing body oversight

Areas for Improvement

• Some foundation subjects are at an early stage of implementation
• Curriculum design and assessment in some foundation subjects are not refined enough
• Pupils’ learning does not consistently build on prior knowledge in some wider curriculum subjects
• Curriculum impact evaluation is not consistently strong across all subjects

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's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.1% 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, 1.0% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead 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's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead had 19.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.0% 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, 13.4% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.5% 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 Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead received £5,987 and spent £6,040 for each of its 308 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £234,000 (£759 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Mother Teresa Catholic Academy Trust, income was £5,891 and spending £6,106 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

All schools in Maidenhead · Windsor and Maidenhead local authority: places and applications

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead is part of Mother Teresa Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School and Nursery Maidenhead
• St Francis Catholic Primary School, South Ascot Ascot
• St Teresa's Catholic Academy Wokingham
• St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School, Bracknell Bracknell
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Aldershot
• All Hallows Catholic School Farnham
• St Anne's Catholic Primary School Basingstoke

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

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

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

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead was last inspected in June 2025.

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

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead has 284 pupils on roll.

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

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead for pupils aged 5 to 11.

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

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead?

St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Maidenhead is at Cookham Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7EG.