Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy is a primary Catholic academy in the Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, with nursery provision and a headteacher who joined in September 2023. The school was previously graded as requiring improvement, and this inspection found it performing well across the inspected areas. Pupils are polite, respectful and articulate, behaviour expectations are understood and applied consistently, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Leaders have reviewed and adapted the trust curriculum to reflect the local community, and a consistent teaching approach helps pupils revisit prior knowledge and remember more. Staff check understanding during lessons and respond quickly to gaps, while pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and supported to access the same broad and balanced curriculum. Reading is a notable strength: phonics is consistent, books match pupils’ phonics knowledge, and catch-up support helps most pupils become fluent readers by the end of Year 2. Personal development and family engagement are also strong, including work on virtues, healthy relationships, safety and environmental responsibility. The main areas for improvement concern writing. Handwriting is not implemented consistently, and incorrect letter formation is not routinely addressed, so some pupils do not form letters accurately. Some foundational writing skills, including grammar, spelling and punctuation, are not developed well enough, which affects pupils’ accuracy and clarity. In early years, some phonics activities are not as well matched to children’s phonics knowledge as they could be. Leaders have acted on the 2024 key stage 2 outcomes, and the trust provides specialist support with comprehensive oversight from the trust, local governing committee and diocese.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite, respectful and articulate, and they behave well.
• Pupils understand the behaviour strategy, and rewards and sanctions are applied consistently and fairly.
• The curriculum is ambitious, adapted to the local community and enriched with purposeful visits.
• A consistent teaching approach helps pupils revisit prior knowledge and remember more.
• Staff check pupils’ understanding during lessons and respond quickly to knowledge gaps.
• Pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and supported to access the same broad and balanced curriculum.
• Phonics teaching is consistent, reading books match pupils’ phonics knowledge, and catch-up support helps most pupils become fluent readers by the end of Year 2.
• Personal development is strong, including virtues, healthy relationships, equality, safety and environmental responsibility.
• The school engages families well through reading breakfasts and maths cafés.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• The trust, local governing committee and diocese provide comprehensive oversight and specialist support.

Areas for Improvement

• Handwriting provision is not implemented consistently across the school.
• Incorrect letter formation is not routinely addressed, so some pupils do not learn to form letters accurately.
• Some pupils’ grammar, spelling and punctuation are not developed well enough, making their writing less accurate and harder to understand.
• Some early years phonics activities are not well matched to children’s phonics knowledge.

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 Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.1% 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, 1.3% of pupils at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic 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 Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy had 24.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 37.5% 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, 16.0% of pupils at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.9% 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 Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy received £7,743 and spent £8,318 for each of its 154 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £109,000 (£709 per pupil).

Across all 35 schools of Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, income was £7,699 and spending £7,759 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 Billingham · Stockton-on-Tees local authority: places and applications

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy is part of Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, which runs 35 schools. The nearest others:

• St Paul's Catholic Primary School Billingham
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Billingham
• St John the Evangelist Catholic Primary School Billingham
• St Michael's Catholic Academy Billingham
• St Joseph's Catholic Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• St Gregory's Catholic Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• St Bede's Catholic Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• Our Lady & St. Bede Catholic Academy Stockton-On-Tees
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Stockton Stockton-On-Tees
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Stockton Stockton-On-Tees

What is Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy have?

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy has 156 pupils on roll.

What age range does Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy cover?

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 71% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy?

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Academy is at Rievaulx Avenue, Billingham, TS23 2BS.