Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy

Sacred Heart School is a caring, highly inclusive Catholic primary academy in Sheffield and part of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust. This full inspection found safeguarding standards met. The school is performing at a strong standard for attendance and behaviour, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing, and at the expected standard for achievement, curriculum and teaching, early years, and leadership and governance. Pupils enjoy school, attend regularly, behave well, feel safe, and are well supported, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school and attend regularly, with attendance consistently above national averages.
• Behaviour is calm and positive; pupils are respectful, engaged and understand high expectations.
• Bullying is uncommon and staff respond quickly and effectively to any concerns.
• The school is highly inclusive and welcoming, and staff know pupils well.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are supported effectively to access learning and achieve well.
• Personal development and pastoral support are strong, helping pupils build resilience, independence and positive values.
• The relationships, sex and health education curriculum is carefully planned and taught effectively.
• Pupils achieve broadly in line with national averages and do particularly well in grammar, punctuation and spelling and multiplication fluency.
• Phonics and early mathematics are taught effectively, helping pupils build secure foundations.
• Leaders, governors and trustees have an accurate understanding of the school and provide effective oversight.
• Leaders work well with parents, external professionals and the trust, and staff feel valued and supported.
• Children in early years settle quickly, feel safe and secure, and make good progress from their starting points.

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching quality varies between classes and subjects.
• Teachers do not consistently select activities that help pupils fully engage with the intended learning.
• Curriculum leadership is less well developed in a few subjects.
• Leaders do not consistently identify and resolve variations in curriculum implementation across subjects.
• In early years, the curriculum is less clearly defined in a small number of areas, so some activities do not build precisely on children's knowledge and skills.

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 Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy attended 96.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.7% 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, 0.9% of pupils at Sacred Heart School, A 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 Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy had 23.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 16.0% of pupils at Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.0% 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 Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy received £6,608 and spent £6,858 for each of its 212 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £104,000 (£491 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £8,072 and spending £8,099 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 Sheffield · Sheffield local authority: places and applications

Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy is part of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 13 schools. The nearest others:

• St Catherine's Catholic Primary School (Hallam) Sheffield
• St Marie's School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy Sheffield
• Notre Dame High School Sheffield
• All Saints' Catholic High School Sheffield
• Emmaus Catholic and CofE Primary School Sheffield
• St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School Sheffield
• St Thomas of Canterbury School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy Sheffield
• St Mary's Primary School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy Sheffield
• St John Fisher Primary, A Catholic Voluntary Academy Sheffield
• St Ann's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Sheffield

What is Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy have?

Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy has 200 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy cover?

Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 69% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy?

Sacred Heart School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy is at Ripley Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S6 2NU.