Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy is a small primary school where pupils are happy, proud of their school and achieve well from their starting points. This was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and its first section 5 inspection since 2015. The school is part of The Newman Catholic Collegiate and shares an executive headteacher with one other school. Inspectors found outstanding behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management, with good quality of education and good early years provision. Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Strengths

• Pupils behave exceptionally well and treat each other with respect.
• Pupils have exceptionally high attendance and the school supports families proactively.
• Personal development provision is exemplary, with a wide range of clubs, trips and leadership opportunities.
• The curriculum identifies key knowledge clearly and is taught in a logical order.
• Pupils with SEND have their needs identified precisely and are well supported to learn the curriculum.
• Early reading is a priority, with a systematic phonics approach and rapid support for pupils with gaps.
• Children get a strong start in the early years through detailed knowledge of their needs and enriched learning.
• Leaders, governors and trustees are ambitious and well informed, and staff value how leaders manage workload.
• Parents and carers value the school, its engagement and the quality of education it provides.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The impact of recently revised curriculums, including in the early years, is variable.
• On occasion, pupils do not achieve as consistently well as they could because revised curriculums are not yet fully embedded.

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 Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy attended 96.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.0% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Our Lady of Grace Catholic 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 Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy had 19.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 28.8% 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, 7.4% of pupils at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% 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 2024–25 Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy received £8,729 and spent £8,716 for each of its 104 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £57,000 (£550 per pupil).

Across all 56 schools of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, income was £7,565 and spending £7,594 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 Stoke-On-Trent · Staffordshire local authority: places and applications

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 64 schools. The nearest others:

• St Joseph's Catholic Academy, Goldenhill Stoke-On-Trent
• St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St John the Evangelist Catholic Academy Kidsgrove
• St Marys Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St Wilfrid's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St Peter's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St George and St Martin's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• Our Lady and St Benedict Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St Mary's Catholic Academy Leek
• St Wulstan's Catholic Primary School Newcastle

What is Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy have?

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy has 95 pupils on roll.

What age range does Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy cover?

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 83% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy?

Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy is at Woodland Street, Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST8 6LW.