St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is a smaller-than-average Catholic primary in a deprived part of Plymouth and is part of the Plymouth Cast multi-academy trust. This full section 5 inspection found that safeguarding is met and that personal development is a relative strength: pupils are happy, feel safe, have positive relationships and benefit from a broad enrichment and pastoral offer. However, most other areas are not yet at the expected standard. Published outcomes over recent years are weak in the combined reading, writing and mathematics measure by the end of Year 6, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those working at greater depth. Teaching is inconsistent, assessment is not used sharply enough, and pupils with SEND do not consistently receive well-adapted work. Attendance and persistent absence remain well below national averages, and low-level disruption sometimes interrupts learning. Early years provision also has inconsistencies in planning, expectations and interactions. Leaders, governors and the trust know the right priorities, including teaching consistency and attendance, and there are early signs of improvement in phonics, multiplication and attendance. But frequent staffing changes have slowed progress, leaders' self-evaluation is too generous, and many actions are too early to show measurable impact. The next steps focus on consistent teaching, better assessment use, high behavioural expectations, and reducing absence.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
• Pupils are happy, feel safe and have warm, meaningful relationships with staff and each other.
• Leaders place inclusivity at the heart of decision-making and promote pupils' wellbeing strongly.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of enrichment, including archery, rowing, curling, competitive sports and residential visits.
• Pupils develop leadership skills as gift chaplains, school councillors and eco warriors.
• The personal development programme helps pupils understand right and wrong, modern Britain, tolerance and healthy relationships.
• Pastoral support is effective, and many staff are trained to support pupils who experience trauma or anxiety.
• Phonics screening check and Year 4 multiplication check outcomes now exceed national averages.
• Behaviour is generally positive, bullying is rare, and pupils trust staff to deal with concerns promptly.
• Staff value leaders' consideration of workload and wellbeing, and appropriate professional development is provided.

Areas for Improvement

• Too few pupils reach the combined expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils working at greater depth have particularly weak outcomes.
• Teaching quality is inconsistent, leading to uneven achievement across the curriculum.
• Teachers do not consistently meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Attendance remains below national averages, and persistent absence is too high, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Behaviour varies, and a small minority of pupils lose focus and disrupt learning when teaching does not match their needs.
• Reading books are not always matched closely enough to pupils' phonics knowledge, limiting fluency and confidence.
• Teachers do not check reading progress with sufficient precision to identify gaps promptly.
• Basic errors in handwriting, spelling and mathematics are not routinely corrected, so pupils embed inaccuracies.
• Assessment information is not used well enough to adapt tasks, which are sometimes too complex or lack challenge.
• Early years teaching is inconsistent, with activities that lack purpose, weak checking of children's knowledge and missed opportunities to develop vocabulary.
• Staff do not consistently address early writing needs, such as incorrect pencil grip, and some children become overly reliant on adult support.
• Pupils with SEND do not consistently access the curriculum, and leaders have not monitored this work precisely enough.
• The pupil premium has had variable impact on outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders evaluate the school's effectiveness too generously, and many improvement actions are at an early stage.
• Frequent staff changes have hindered progress, and governance and trust work has not yet led to sustained improvements.

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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.8% 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, 1.5% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School had 20.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 23.0% 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.5% 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 2024–25 St Joseph's Catholic Primary School received £7,444 and spent £7,093 for each of its 198 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £627,000 (£3,177 per pupil).

Across all 34 schools of Plymouth Cast, income was £8,158 and spending £8,000 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.

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• Secondary Schools

All schools in Plymouth · Plymouth local authority: places and applications

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is part of Plymouth Cast, which runs 34 schools. The nearest others:

• The Cathedral School of St Mary Plymouth
• Keyham Barton Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• Holy Cross Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• St Paul's Roman Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• St Boniface's RC College Plymouth
• St Peter's RC Primary School Plymouth
• Notre Dame RC School Plymouth
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Buckfast Buckfastleigh
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Bodmin Bodmin
• St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Primary School, Dartmouth Dartmouth

What is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was St Joseph's Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School have?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School has 201 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School cover?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are St Joseph's Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is at Chapel Street, Devonport, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 4DJ.