St Gregory's Catholic Primary School

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School is a caring Catholic primary in the Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company. Following a period of instability, leaders have steadied the school and created greater consistency. The inspection found the school working at the expected standard across all evaluated areas, with safeguarding met. Pupils achieve well, writing is a strength, reading is prioritised, and pupils with SEND make impressive progress from their starting points. Attendance has improved significantly and is above national averages, behaviour is calm and orderly, and personal development is rich through the GREAT values and a wide range of enrichment. There are clear strengths in inclusion, leadership, and the early years, where children settle quickly and communication and language are prioritised. The trust provides effective support and challenge, and parents are positive about the improvements and the school's caring approach. Pupils feel safe, included and well supported, and older pupils take pride in helping younger children. Leaders have identified sensible next steps. Pupils need further support to develop speaking, listening and communication skills, and mathematics reasoning and problem-solving need embedding so that published key stage 2 outcomes better reflect recent improvements. The school is also working to develop pupils' independence, resilience and confidence, and to enhance the early years indoor learning environment so it fully matches the curriculum's ambition.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed.
• Pupils achieve well across the curriculum and develop secure knowledge and skills over time.
• Writing is a strength, with pupils writing regularly, taking pride and applying skills across subjects.
• Reading is prioritised and pupils read with increasing fluency, confidence and enthusiasm.
• Pupils with SEND make impressive progress from their starting points and learn alongside their peers.
• Attendance has improved significantly and is now above national averages.
• Behaviour is calm and orderly, with pupils polite, respectful and rarely disrupting learning.
• Early years children settle quickly and benefit from a nurturing environment focused on communication and language.
• Inclusion is effective, with earlier identification of needs and strong work with parents and professionals.
• Leadership has built confidence after turbulence, and trust support and governance provide effective challenge.
• Personal development is rich, with GREAT values, responsibilities and a wide range of enrichment.
• Pupils feel safe, included and supported, and older pupils support younger children.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' speaking, listening and communication skills need strengthening so they can articulate thinking clearly and become independent learners.
• Mathematics reasoning, problem-solving and explanation need embedding throughout learning.
• Published mathematics outcomes at the end of key stage 2 do not yet fully reflect recent improvements and are below national averages.
• Pupils' independence, resilience and confidence as learners need further development to prepare them for the next stage.
• The early years indoor learning environment needs development to fully match curriculum ambitions and support exploration and independence.

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 Gregory's Catholic Primary School attended 95.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.9% 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 St Gregory'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 Gregory's Catholic Primary School had 21.0 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, 18.3% of pupils at St Gregory's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.2% 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 St Gregory's Catholic Primary School received £7,752 and spent £7,185 for each of its 221 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £149,000 (£674 per pupil).

Across all 14 schools of Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company, income was £7,316 and spending £7,265 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 Smethwick · Sandwell local authority: places and applications

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School is part of Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School Birmingham
• Our Lady and St Hubert's Catholic Primary School Oldbury
• St Philip's Catholic Primary School Smethwick
• St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School Oldbury
• St Mary's RC Primary School Brierley Hill
• St Joseph's RC Primary School Stourbridge
• Hagley Catholic High School Hagley
• St Ambrose Catholic Primary Kidderminster
• St Wulstan's Catholic Primary School Stourport-On-Severn
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Droitwich

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Gregory's Catholic Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

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

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

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

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School has 230 pupils on roll.

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

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 57% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Gregory's Catholic Primary School?

St Gregory's Catholic Primary School is at Park Road, Bearwood, Smethwick, West Midlands, B67 5HX.