Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy is a warm and inclusive school that inspectors found to be performing strongly overall. It is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust and was inspected in December 2025. Safeguarding standards are met. Pupils achieve high standards by the end of Year 6, especially in reading, writing and mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make strong progress from their starting points. Notable strengths include an ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum, highly effective teaching and phonics, expert adaptation for pupils with SEND, and a highly effective culture of inclusion. Leadership and governance are strong, with a clear ambitious vision, effective trust support and a positive professional learning culture. Pupils benefit from a broad personal development programme, strong pastoral care, good behaviour and aspirational careers information. The school serves a context with well above average free school meal eligibility and deprivation, and many pupils join mid-year with gaps that leaders address swiftly. The main areas for development are clear but limited. Early years interactions do not consistently address gaps in children’s communication and language knowledge quickly enough, and some pupils, especially some disadvantaged pupils, remain persistently absent. A few pupils also continue to struggle to conform to school rules and routines, although behaviour overall is positive.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve high standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND make strong progress from their starting points.
• The curriculum is ambitious and carefully sequenced across subjects.
• Phonics teaching is strong and pupils receive effective support to become fluent readers.
• Teaching is highly effective, with staff modelling knowledge accurately and addressing misconceptions quickly.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND are expertly implemented.
• The school has a highly effective culture of inclusion and identifies pupils’ needs swiftly.
• Leaders and governors have a clear, ambitious vision and strong professional learning culture.
• The personal development programme is broad, tailored and includes meaningful leadership roles.
• Pastoral care is highly effective and pupils are polite, respectful and well behaved.
• Careers information is aspirational and goes beyond what is expected.

Areas for Improvement

• Early years interactions do not consistently close gaps in children’s communication and language knowledge.
• Some pupils, especially some disadvantaged pupils, remain persistently absent.
• A few pupils continue to struggle to conform to school rules and routines.

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 Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.7% 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, 2.9% of pupils at Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). 2 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 Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy had 16.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.5% 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, 13.8% of pupils at Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.1% 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 Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy received £7,284 and spent £7,750 for each of its 210 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £253,000 (£1,203 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 Wolverhampton · Wolverhampton local authority: places and applications

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 64 schools. The nearest others:

• SS Mary and John's Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Teresa's Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy Wolverhampton
• SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary Academy & Nursery Wolverhampton
• St Edmund's Catholic Academy Wolverhampton
• St Michael's Catholic Primary Academy and Nursery Wolverhampton
• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Chad's Catholic Primary School Dudley

What is Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in January 2026.

When was Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy was last inspected in January 2026.

How many pupils does Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy have?

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy has 225 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy cover?

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 79% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy?

Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy is at Hickman Avenue, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 2BS.