St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy

St Aidan’s Catholic Primary Academy has shown significant improvement since its previous inspection, now rated as good overall. The school emphasizes a supportive and safe environment where pupils feel valued and are eager to learn. The leadership team has worked diligently to foster pride amongst students and develop their learning facilities, such as a popular woodland area for education and recreation. The quality of education is robust, especially in reading and early years, where systematic phonics instruction ensures children are well prepared for future learning. Despite these strengths, some areas need attention, particularly around ensuring that all teaching builds effectively on pupils' prior knowledge. There is variability in the delivery of new curriculum standards in certain subjects, which suggests that while the staff are generally well-trained, ongoing support and monitoring will be essential to maintain consistency across the school.

Strengths

• Pupils are proud to attend and actively engage in school life.
• Strong leadership committed to high standards in education.
• Effective phonics instruction in early years.
• Robust systems for identifying and supporting SEND students.
• Variety of extracurricular activities that enhance student engagement.

Areas for Improvement

• Occasional lack of alignment between tasks and pupils' prior knowledge.
• Inconsistencies in how the updated curriculum is delivered in some 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 Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.3% 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, 0.4% of pupils at St Aidan's Catholic Primary 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 Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy had 19.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.0% 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, 12.2% of pupils at St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.8% 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 St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy received £9,038 and spent £9,218 for each of its 232 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £658,000 (-£2,835 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of The Good Shepherd Catholic Trust, income was £8,234 and spending £8,332 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 Redbridge · Redbridge local authority: places and applications

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy is part of The Good Shepherd Catholic Trust, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• The Palmer Catholic Academy Ilford
• SS Peter and Paul's Catholic Primary School Ilford
• St Vincent's Catholic Primary School Dagenham
• The St Teresa Catholic Primary School Dagenham
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Barking
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Dagenham
• Our Lady of Lourdes RC Primary School London

What is St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in November 2022.

When was St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy was last inspected in November 2022.

How many pupils does St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy have?

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy has 213 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy cover?

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 58% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy?

St Aidan's Catholic Primary Academy is at Benton Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4AS.